The Song of an Angel
by ssj Kinara
Summary: *COMPLETED!!!!!* A year after Gohan's death in Future Trunks' time, Trunks meets a refugee girl who very well might change his life.
1. The Attack

1 The Song of an Angel  
  
By ssj Kinara  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own DBZ, yada yada, don't sue me. The only thing I do own is my so-far-nameless character in the city. You'll figure it out.  
  
This fic takes place in Future Trunks' timeline about a year after Gohan was killed by the androids. Now, I want all of you to review so I know people are actually reading this. I take constructive criticism, not flames. Okay, enough of me just read my story.  
  
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Chapter One: The Attack  
  
  
  
Sunlight. It shone everywhere on the beach, illuminating the sand and accenting the ocean. Trunks Briefs lay on his back, watching the glorious scene before him. Oolong, Puar, and Yamcha were running in the surf. Chouzu had convinced Tien to help him build a sand empire. ChiChi was applying suntan lotion on her back as Roshi sat reading. Piccolo hovered above the sand, meditating, yet oddly contented. Goku and Krillin were laughing like children as they swam in the glistening salt water. Trunks' parents, Bulma and Vegeta lay next to each other basking in the afternoon glow.  
  
"Trunks!" The young Saiya-jin prince turned toward the voice calling him. He saw Gohan, his best friend and mentor running towards him, waving both arms in the air, and calling. "Trunks! Trunks! Trunks!..."  
  
"Trunks!"  
  
The boy sat up in a cold sweat, awakened from his sleep. It was dark, and he was in his own room, in his own bed. It had been a dream, another dream of his long-gone friends.  
  
His mother, Bulma, stood above him looking scared. She had been the one calling his name, trying to wake him. Solemnly, cold-hard reality set in.  
  
"Trunks, get up, we need to go!" his mother urged, grabbing a pair of pants and a Capsule Corp. T-shirt for him.  
  
Sleepily, he glanced at his old digital clock. Two-o'-clock am. He groaned.  
  
"Trunks, don't you dare go back to sleep. There's been an Android Warning."  
  
"What?" suddenly the boy felt very much awake. "But, Mom, they already destroyed most of the city! They wouldn't come back, would they?"  
  
"No, there was an attack in the city just east of here. They might get bored and decide to come here, too. Now, hurry! We need to get to the shelter."  
  
She didn't need to tell him twice. By the time Bulma had finished her statement, Trunks already had on his pants and was yanking on his shirt.  
  
"Come on!" Bulma took his hand and led him down the stairs and out of the building as fast as she could.  
  
Outside, it was pandemonium. As was required in an Android Warning, all the lights in the city were turned out and the only light came from flashlights. Everyone was in the street, running in the same direction: toward the City Android Shelter. People were carrying pets and backpacks, because they knew that they could be in the underground shelter for days.  
  
Being the stronger and faster of the two, Trunks pulled Bulma through the crowd. He could have flown them there, but he knew that at the entrance there wouldn't be an inch between people to land in.  
  
The entryway looked like a normal subway entrance, but everyone in the ruined city knew where it was. Police were everywhere, making sure that everybody stayed safe as they all filtered into the small entrance.  
  
The officers rushed Bulma and Trunks in with the rest of everybody. The stairway leading down was narrow, but everyone was in a hurry so it wasn't long before they passed the steel and iron doors and entered the large cement room lined with steel that was the shelter.  
  
There were already hundreds or people in the shelter, huddled in groups, but there was still a lot of room left. Trunks and Bulma took a seat against the cold wall. He laid his head on her shoulder and let her comb her fingers through his long, lavender hair, just like she had when he was young.  
  
Even when he was a child, though, there still wasn't peace. He was too young to truly remember even when they had built this shelter. It was meant to hide and protect all of the city's inhabitants in case the Androids 17 and 18 came to play their game of destruction again. Trunks figured it made everybody feel safer having the shelter there, even if it was next to useless.  
  
"Mom?" he asked after a minute. "Do you really think they'll come back to destroy the rest of the city?"  
  
"No, I don't think so," she said. "But it's better to be in here and cautious then out there and possibly dead."  
  
Trunks knew all too well that his mother's words were very true. Every day people lived in fear, fled for their lives, and died at the hands of those synthetic monsters of Dr. Gero's. He had been too young to remember when they had first showed up, but he knew the story well. The pair had come to a town southwest of South City wreaking havoc on the citizens. All of the Z- fighters had fought.  
  
Only Gohan had escaped with his life.  
  
Afterwards, Gohan had taken Trunks under his wing, teaching him all he knew about fighting while fending off the androids. It had been a year since Gohan had lost his life in a battle against those demon creatures.  
  
"I miss Gohan..." he murmured quietly.  
  
"I know. We all do, honey," said Bulma. They were silent for a minute.  
  
"I had another dream," he started again, "that everyone was alive...Goku, Krillin, Piccolo, Gohan...and Dad."  
  
Bulma tensed up. She always did at any mention of Vegeta.  
  
"Will I really get to meet him if that time machine of yours works?" he continued.  
  
"Yes," she said, "and Goku, especially Goku. He had a certain mood about him. He was silly, even dumb at times, but you had to love being around him. He was an angel, a spirit of peace."  
  
Trunks smiled slightly. He always liked hearing about his mentor's father. He seemed to have everything this generation lacked: peace, love, and humor. Why did he have to catch that stupid virus?  
  
"As soon as they let us out of here, I'm going to check on that town. I'll see what's left, and if anyone survived," said the half-Saiya-jin.  
  
"That's nothing less then I expected from you, son," Bulma smiled. "Now go to sleep. I'll wake you when they say we can leave."  
  
"Mmhm," was Trunks' answer. From across the room, he saw the officers close and lock the heavy iron doors. The room was now completely full, except perhaps for a guard outside, hidden from view.  
  
Nearby, a woman was humming a lullaby for her infant child. As he listened, he let it lull him to sleep. Maybe he would dream of the old Z-team again.  
  
* * * * *  
  
Trunks woke from his dreamless sleep the next morning. The huge iron door was open, allowing the dreary room a comfortable glow. He glanced around the room and noticed that some police officers were waking the sleeping people. That could only mean that the danger had passed and they were now allowed to go back to their homes.  
  
Gingerly, so not to wake Bulma, he stood and headed to the door; careful not to accidentally kick anyone sprawled on the floor.  
  
He spoke to the officer at the door. "Is the warning over?"  
  
"Yeah," the officer answered. "I was on watch and saw the pair fly by around 5:30 or so myself."  
  
"Good," said Trunks. "Could you tell my mom I've already left when she wakes up?"  
  
He smiled. "Sure thing, Trunks." Nearly everyone in the city knew the Briefs, be it from his grandfather's crazy experiments, his own crime fighting, or just because they lived in the biggest house in the city. Yes, the Androids had left the city a skeleton, a shadow of what it used to be, but Capsule Corp. still stood mostly in one piece. "So, are you going off to save the world again?" He joked.  
  
"Yeah," said Trunks, leaning against the wall to let a sleepy-looking couple walk past. "Sure, then we can all live happily ever after."  
  
"Right," chuckled the officer. "Seriously, though, go and kick some tin-can android butt, okay?"  
  
"All right!" They both smiled. "See ya!" Trunks flew to the entrance.  
  
"You be safe, kid!" he yelled after the disappearing Saiya-jin.  
  
"Yeah," Trunks murmured, heading east. "I wish there were such a thing as safe anymore."  
  
He could see the smoldering rubble that used to be a city even from afar. The smell of destruction came soon after. Monsters, he thought. Those two must've had a lot of fun last night. There's nothing left!  
  
He stopped mid-flight and began to survey the destroyed city. Half a building, the skeletons of a few houses, and a fragile-looking, bent skyscraper with a good part of the top blown off seemed to be all that remained. The streets were covered in rubble, and not a patch of grass seemed to remain. Even the lake seemed to be destroyed, with boulder-sized pieces from the buildings jutting from the grayish water.  
  
Clenching his fists and trying his hardest to control his power, he set himself down on one of the used-to-be buildings. Under his weight, the fragile building collapsed, nearly taking him down with it. But Trunks took to the air before any real damage could come to him.  
  
Landing on another spot, he tested his weight. It held. "Stupid androids," he cursed them. "How could anything be so evil?"  
  
That's when he heard it. There was a small, scared whimper from behind him. Turning, he saw a girl about his age half-buried in the debris of what used to be a house. She was cut, bruised, and dirty, with torn clothing and dust in her hair. She was dressed in a ripped T-shirt and pajama pants. The only clean part of her seemed to be her ocean-blue eyes. But even those were terror-stricken from last night's attack. Yet, there was something else in the girl's face...no, she wasn't just terrified from the previous night. She was scared of him.  
  
He put on a comforting smile. "Hi."  
  
She leaned back as pure horror filled her damp eyes, as if she was trying to get away from him.  
  
"You don't have to be afraid of me," he said, taking a step forward. She cringed and cried out in desperation.  
  
"I'm not going to hurt you," he said. He figured if he kept talking like this then she might not be so scared. "I'm going to get you out, okay?" He kept taking tentative steps toward her. "Did you see me fly? Is that why you're scared of me, because the androids flew, too?"  
  
She was crying uncontrollably now and was leaning forwards. Her hair shadowed her eyes, but Trunks knew he had hit he nail on the head.  
  
"Hey," he said soothingly. "I'm not an android." He had reached her side and crouched next to her. "Look," he said. He outstretched his hand and put it where she could see it. Her teardrops fell on his skin, but he kept talking. "I'm warm. I have a pulse. I'm as human as you are. I can just fly, and I use that ability to protect our race from those demons. See? Touch my hand, feel my pulse, I just want to prove to you that I'm real and that I'm going to help you."  
  
Sniffing back her tears she leaned back her head and stared at his hand before her. Trunks stayed still and didn't say a word. It was a few minutes that seemed like an hour before she turned her eyes from his hand and to his face. She nodded, nothing more.  
  
Trunks took this to mean that she was beginning to trust him now, and smiled. "Don't worry, I'll dig you out of here." He started to move away the debris and rubble that buried her.  
  
"My name's Trunks, by the way. I live in the city just west of here in the Capsule Corp. building. Who're you?"  
  
The girl didn't answer. She just watched him dig. She didn't help him move the debris, but he figured she must still be pretty traumatized from the previous night's attack.  
  
"All right. I'm going to pull out your left leg. Tell me if it hurts at all." He gently pulled her foot from the mess. Besides a small cringe, she made no move saying she was in any real pain. Her pants were torn beyond repair, but were still very much intact. Trunks felt her leg up to her knee, looking for injury. "Well, I don't think anything's broken. You'll just have some scrapes, I think.  
  
"Now let's get your other leg out. Again, let me know if it hurts." He gave a pull at her right leg.  
  
She screamed so loudly that Trunks thought he might have hurt her. He let go as fresh tears welled in her eyes.  
  
"Okay, okay. Wow...Y'know, we'll have to get that foot out. I'll keep digging and you pull it out, okay?" He was worried that he might make it worse, but luckily she nodded in agreement. It took a while, but the girl was finally completely out.  
  
Trunks turned to inspect her injured leg and was surprised to see that the entire leg of her pajamas under her knee was ripped off. Her ankle was swollen and purple. It looked painful.  
  
"You're going to need to get a doctor to look at that," he said, concerned, "before it gets too bad." He looked up at her tear-stained and dirty face. "The closest hospital is in my city. You can come over to my house and my mom can get you some food and clothing. She'll call a doctor and you can probably stay in one of the guest rooms while you recover, too."  
  
He noticed that she was crying again.  
  
"I mean, if you don't have anywhere else to go...I promise you'll be safe with us. So...will you stay with me—us, until you heal at least?"  
  
For a while she made no move. She seemed to be thinking it over, and Trunks didn't want to pressure her. Finally, slowly, she nodded.  
  
He sighed in relief, and smiled. "Good," he said. "I'll carry you, and we can fly back home."  
  
She looked surprised at the thought of her flying, but didn't object as he picked her up. She put one arm around his neck, and he said, "Ready? All right, here we go!" and took off.  
  
She squealed and threw her other arm around him, closing her eyes and burying her face in his chest.  
  
"Hey, don't be scared. I won't let you get hurt," he told her. She gingerly opened her eyes and peered at the ground below her. Captivated by the first time bird's-eye-view, she stared below her, at the ground, in wonder.  
  
Trunks was left to his own thoughts. His heart went out to this poor nameless girl, who had probably lost everything and everyone she had ever loved in that one night. Her parents, siblings, grandparents, and pets were gone. She might've lost a best friend or even a boyfriend. Had she even had one?  
  
He realized he knew nothing about this girl. Even her true hair color was hidden under dust. She hadn't spoken a word to him. He began to wonder if she ever would speak...  
  
His thoughts were interrupted by the sight of Capsule Corp.  
  
"Hey, look! There's where I live."  
  
She turned her attention to the big dome and gasped. Trunks was used to people being awed at the size of his home; it did take up a whole city block.  
  
They landed gently on his front doorstep. He put her down and let her lean on him for support. The lights were on inside, so he knew that Bulma was already home.  
  
He opened the door and they hobbled in.  
  
"Mom?" he called. "We have a houseguest!"  
  
* * * * * * * *  
  
  
  
Ha ha ha! The first chapter is done!  
  
Who is this silent girl? Why isn't she talking? Does she have a secret? Only I know, and you have to stay tuned for updates to find out!  
  
Now review and tell me what you think. Go on. Don't be shy. Oh, just review, I say!! There you go. 


	2. The Silent Houseguest

1 The Song of an Angel  
  
By ssj Kinara  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own DBZ or the song lyrics in this chapter. The song is from the television show Outlaw Star. I'm not sure who owns it but the title is "Hiru No Tsuki" and it's not mine. The only thing I do own is my character, the injured girl, whose name I have not yet revealed!  
  
Recap: Future Trunks has brought home a girl, the only survivor of an Android attack on a city nearby.  
  
Sorry that it took so long! I thought I'd have this posted a day or two ago!  
  
Thanks to those people who reviewed: Vashwoman (I know who you are! =P), Demon Saiyan (Sorry, it's not Pan (), and BC (I have a #1 fan! () Thanks all!  
  
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Chapter Two: The Silent Houseguest  
  
Trunks glanced around the entrance hall, still supporting the girl. His mother was nowhere to be seen and his companion was injured. Bulma wasn't a doctor by education, but in his day and age, everyone knew at least something about nursing.  
  
Knowing that she needed to rest, he helped the girl to limp into the kitchen. "You can sit here," he said, easing her into one of the chairs. "I'll find my mom and she'll call the doctor. We'll get this all sorted out."  
  
He started to leave, then stopped in the doorway and dared one more look at the girl. She sat still with her hands folded in her lap, not letting her right foot touch the floor, staring downward. Just looking at the forlorn survivor made Trunks feel sad.  
  
Tearing away his eyes, he left to find Bulma.  
  
"Mom?" he called, checking the hall. "I know you're home." He poked his head in the den. "Where are you?"  
  
"I'm coming, Trunks hold your horses." His mother's voice came from behind him, from the stairs. Trunks turned and peeped up the stairway as Bulma nearly ran into him. "Oh, there you are, Trunks," she sighed. "You're home."  
  
Suddenly, she slapped him across the back of the head. "Don't you ever run off without telling me again! You nearly gave me a heart attack, and I don't care what that man said! Oh, you're making me old—"  
  
"Mom!" said Trunks above his mother's ranting, rubbing his head. It was obvious by his voice that he'd said it several times. "There was a girl in the city."  
  
"A girl?" responded Bulma, finally listening.  
  
"Yeah. I think she's still kind of traumatized from last night because she hasn't said a word. But she's injured and you need to look at it and call the doctor."  
  
"Way ahead of you, Trunks. Now let's go see this silent wonder." She started to walk towards the den.  
  
"Er, Mom? She's in the kitchen,"  
  
"Oh...right."  
  
Trunks rolled his eyes and she changed directions, he at her heels.  
  
Bulma pushed open the door to reveal the girl with her face in her hands, shaking from the fresh tears she was crying. As soon as she heard Bulma step into the room, though, she straitened up and wiped her eyes with the back of her dirty hand.  
  
  
  
"Hi," said Bulma, pretending she hadn't seen. "I'm Trunks' mom, Bulma. He told me that you're hurt. Could you show me where, dear?"  
  
Silently, she indicated her swollen ankle. The older woman kneeled to inspect it, but was careful not to touch it.  
  
"Can you move it?" she asked.  
  
Seeming doubtful, she slowly lifted her leg and tried to point her toes toward the ceiling, but instead let out a yelp and bit back more tears.  
  
"Okay, it's okay. Don't try it if you can't." Bulma stood. "Well, from what I can tell, it could be anything from something torn to a broken bone. Trunks, you get a pillow for her foot to rest on and I'll call Dr. Strouss for an appointment." She left the room briskly.  
  
Trunks quickly grabbed a pillow from the couch in the den and walked back into the kitchen. She lifted her foot so he could place the cushion under it.  
  
"Comfy?" he asked, lacking anything better to say.  
  
She didn't answer, just stared at her hands in her lap.  
  
Uncomfortable in the silence, he tried again to get her to talk. "So, you never told us your name. What is it?"  
  
She didn't answer.  
  
"Um, hello? You're not deaf are you?"  
  
He could just make out her head shaking "no."  
  
"Okay, well you aren't scared of me, are you?"  
  
No response.  
  
"You don't have to be afraid of us." He forced a smile. "We don't bite."  
  
He could tell he wasn't doing any good. She didn't want to talk and she didn't seem to be paying much attention to him. Not to mention that she looked like she was going to cry again. Trunks decided to let it drop. She'd been through a lot.  
  
Just then Bulma came back in, fuming. "I don't believe it! The doctor has no idea when his next opening will be, he's so far backed up! How can that even be so? There's not too many people left, courtesy of the Androids." She took a deep breath and calmed herself. To the girl she said, "I guess you'll be staying with us for a while. I'll get some clothes and things that you can wear and all the other stuff that you'll need. We'll fix up a guestroom for you before you go to sleep.  
  
"But in the meantime, a bath is in order. C'mon, lean on me and we'll get you up the stairs. Which reminds me, you'll need a crutch..."  
  
Bulma kept on talking weather or not anyone was listening. Without a word the girl put her arm around Bulma's shoulder and they limped out of the kitchen. Trunks followed, watching, making sure they would make it. The pair was actually moving rather well, considering, and was only slowed by the stairs.  
  
Trunks was watching from the bottom. Just before the girl was out of sight, she glanced over her shoulder for one more look at her lavender-haired rescuer.  
  
"Well," he said, "at least she didn't completely ignore me."  
  
* * * * * *  
  
Upstairs, Bulma was still talking as she was helping the girl get ready, who was sitting on the toilet and peeling off what was left of her clothing.  
  
"It's amazing that you survived, really. Those Androids killing everyone and destroying everything... Darn those two! I'll bet there's not a soul anywhere who'd care about them."  
  
Bulma put some shampoo, conditioner, and soap within her reach from the tub. She also put some clean clothes and a new hairbrush and toothbrush on the counter. Then she turned on the water to the right temperature and helped the girl into the bathtub. After showing her how to operate the knobs, she left to give her some privacy.  
  
Downstairs, she found Trunks reading an old book of hers, Dragonriders of Pern. He seemed to always love looking at his mom's pre-android things, especially things that were his father's. He seemed to think there was hope in these things from the past.  
  
Trunks looked up when she came in. "How is she?"  
  
Bulma sighed as she sat in the old loveseat. "Oh, she'll be just fine as soon as she starts talking." She gazed at her son thoughtfully.  
  
"What?"  
  
"I'm just thinking. Trunks, I don't want you making a move on her."  
  
"What?!" he said, taken back by the request.  
  
"I mean it Trunks! She's been through enough already and I don't want you to make it worse for her."  
  
"Mom, I know. I won't." He grinned slyly. "Or I'll try. I dunno, I'm a real magnet when it comes to women."  
  
Bulma chuckled. "Oh, yeah. You're your father's son, all right."  
  
* * * * * *  
  
Twenty minutes later, as Trunks was finally eating his breakfast, Bulma went upstairs to get the girl a crutch and help her out of the tub, and Trunks was left with his thoughts again. Picking at his eggs, he wondered what his visitor had been like before the attack. Had she been talkative and popular or a quiet loner? How many close friends did she have? Had she gotten along with her family? Did she have a boyfriend?  
  
Despite Bulma's warning, he couldn't help but to linger on this last question. Sure, she was covered in dirt and she hadn't said a word to him, but there was something in her crystal eyes and meek demeanor that made her seem like a person he would want to really know.  
  
Through his daydream he heard footsteps on the stairs and turned to look.  
  
Bulma was leading the girl down, holding her left arm as she used the crutch on her right side. They reached the bottom of the stairs and the girl looked at Trunks again.  
  
She was completely changed. In place of dirt and blood were soft-looking skin and a few Band-Aids. Her hair was clean, sleek, and brown in color. Her face was sweet and soft despite her concentration with the crutch. She was wearing and older green shirt and jeans that belonged to Bulma.  
  
Trunks remembered hearing stories of beings who were pure in heart and beautiful. They were called angels and seemed to glow in beauty. This girl reminded him of these angels.  
  
Trunks realized that his mouth was hanging open and shut it quickly.  
  
Bulma was talking to the girl. "I'm going to make up some lunch, but, you haven't even eaten breakfast yet, have you? Well, then let's call it a late brunch. You must be starving so I won't be too long. Is that okay, dear?"  
  
The girl nodded her head slightly.  
  
"So she's still not talking," Trunks thought to himself.  
  
The girl seated herself in the closest chair, the one next to Trunks, as Bulma hurried into the kitchen to heat up some pancakes.  
  
Trunks was still staring at the girl as he took another bite of his food. "What a transformation!" he was thinking. "From a dirty, beat-up orphan to a beautiful, glowing angel. Then again, she is still an orphan and she had to be beautiful under all that dirt." He looked a bit closer. "She's not even wearing any of Mom's makeup! Wow..."  
  
The girl finally looked up at him, giving him a look asking what she was looking at.  
  
"Er...sorry," he said, blushing and turning back to his now cold eggs.  
  
Soon Bulma came out of the kitchen holding a plate of food. "It's scrambled eggs, pancakes with syrup, buttered toast, sausage and strawberries," she said, placing the meal in front of her.  
  
The girl smiled a weak, half-smile of gratitude and Bulma took her seat across from her. The girl picked up her fork and looked at her meal. Trunks noticed her lip quiver in the slightest way, and then began to poke at her food.  
  
Trunks, finished, cleaned up his own breakfast and put the dishes in the sink. Sitting down again, he saw that she was still not eating the food in front of her.  
  
At last, Bulma spoke. "Okay, I know that you must be hungry; you haven't eaten since last night. I know you might not feel like you have an appetite right now, but I refuse to let you starve yourself to death and I am not going to force-feed you. So, please, eat if for nothing else then for my sanity."  
  
"You'd better do what she says," added the half-Saiya-jin. You don't want to see her when she's really mad."  
  
"Thank you, Trunks," said Bulma, irritated.  
  
After this scene, the girl simply shook her head and smiled a bit. She picked at her eggs, then shoveled some onto her fork. She put the little bit of food in her mouth, chewed, and swallowed.  
  
Satisfied, Bulma stood to do the dishes as the girl ate a bit more  
  
* * * * * *  
  
The rest of the day went on similarly. At each of the next two meals, the girl said not a word, and after some coaxing, ate little. Between meals the girl sat in the den with a book Bulma had given her. Trunks also sat in the room with his book, but spent most of his time stealing looks at his silent visitor. He noticed that she didn't seem to be paying attention to the book in her lap. Her eyes would glaze over and she wouldn't turn the page for what seemed to be hours.  
  
Eventually, night fell. Bulma escorted the girl to her room and loaned her a nightdress.  
  
Trunks had begged his mom to allow him to finish the chapter, and was finally headed upstairs to his bedroom after both women were in bed. He sneaked past the girl's door quietly, not to wake her, and slipped into his room. He changed into his sleeping attire and crawled into his own bed, hoping for old dreams uninterrupted by the evil Androids. He closed his eyes and cuddled into his pillow.  
  
Then he sat up again. Teeth. He'd forgotten to brush his teeth.  
  
Again he rose and crept into the hall. He was passing the girl's room when he heard a noise. Cautiously, he leaned up against the door, ear-to-wood, and listened. She was crying again. How many tears did this girl have?  
  
He started to move away from the door to give her privacy, when he heard something else. It was a voice coming from the room. No, it was her voice, the girl's! Her voice was soft and lovely and yet broken between sobs. She was singing herself a lullaby.  
  
"I don't know  
  
What words I can say.  
  
The wind has a way  
  
To talk to me.  
  
Flowers sleep  
  
A silent lullaby.  
  
I pray for reply.  
  
I'm ready.  
  
Quiet day calms me.  
  
Oh, serenity,  
  
Someone please tell me  
  
Oh, mmm,  
  
What is it they say?  
  
Maybe I will know one day.  
  
I don't know  
  
What words I can say.  
  
The wind has a way  
  
To talk to me.  
  
Flowers sleep  
  
A silent lullaby.  
  
I pray for reply.  
  
I'm ready."  
  
By this point, Trunks was about ready to cry himself. Her song was so beautiful and sincere, even with the tears.  
  
Trunks was reminded of the woman in the shelter humming to her baby. Suddenly, his mind was filled with a vision of the girl hugging her own mother, who was cradling her in her arms. Behind them the fireworks of the Androids' destruction filled the scene, yet even over the noise he could hear the woman singing this lullaby.  
  
He shook away the image, forcing back tears.  
  
Slowly, silently, he backed away from her room and sneaked back into his room, closing the door gently  
  
* * * * * * * * * *  
  
A/N: Hooray! I finally finished! I truly didn't think it would take this long! Well, now that this chapter's done, please review and let me know what you think and how I can improve! Thanks again! 


	3. She Speaks

1 The Song of an Angel  
  
By ssj Kinara  
  
Recap: Trunks' silent refugee is all that Trunks can seem to think about, and last night, he heard her singing herself to sleep. It was the first time he'd heard her speak.  
  
A/N: I know, I know. I'm really slow at updating. I mean, there's only one computer in this house and FOUR people using it! Next time, it just might take longer to organize my ideas... or maybe not. It is spring break. Oh, well.  
  
Thanks to those of you who reviewed: Vashwoman, BC, Professor Authordude, and Demon Saiyan! I hope to hear from you again, and from others, too! Anyway, enough of me! Enjoy!  
  
* * * * * * * * * *  
  
Chapter three: She Speaks  
  
The following morning, Trunks woke with the sun shining across his bed. Though he hadn't dreamed of his old friends again, his first thoughts were of his new one: the girl.  
  
"Why?" he asked himself. Why was it her face that he pictured? She was unusually meek, but he'd met quiet people before. Did he pity her unfortunate situation? Was she just an interesting change in scenery? He couldn't tell yet. All he could tell was that he was finding himself rather attracted to her.  
  
The echoing of his thoughts was penetrated by an immense growl. His Saiya- jin's appetite was acting up. He hadn't eaten since last night and he was starving.  
  
Kicking off his sheets, he jumped up and headed for the door. Then he suddenly stopped with his hand on the doorknob. He was wearing what he'd slept in: boxers and an undershirt. He quickly realized that the girl might be downstairs. Blushing at no one, he decided to show a bit of decency and change first.  
  
He threw on a Capsule Corp T-shirt and a pair of old jeans. Trunks was checking himself in the mirror, making sure that everything was in order, when he saw a photo of his father reflected in the glass. It was an old snapshot of Goku's. He'd caught Vegeta off-guard while he was training, so besides the beginnings of a very ticked-off scowl, he looked almost natural.  
  
Trunks couldn't remember his father, but he'd heard plenty of stories from his mom to know what Vegeta would be saying about him now.  
  
"Woman, has our son turned into a pretty-boy? He's standing in front of the looking glass as if he has nothing better to do! Boy, get outside and train!"  
  
Yeah, that was probably what Vegeta would say, all right. But he wasn't here anymore. With a final glance in the mirror, he left his room.  
  
Sure enough, the girl was downstairs sitting at the kitchen table. A plate of leftover pancakes sat in front of her, almost gone.  
  
"So," Trunks thought, "hunger did get the best of her. Good, I was beginning to worry."  
  
Trunks made his way into the kitchen to find that Bulma wasn't there. "Hey," Trunks stuck his head back through the door. "Do you know where my mom is?" he asked the girl.  
  
She swallowed and handed him a piece of paper. It read:  
  
Dear Trunks,  
  
I'm running a few errands. I'll be back by about nine or ten. After that I'll be working in the lab.  
  
Love you!  
  
Mom  
  
P.S. Take care of our guest. There are pancakes in the fridge.  
  
Trunks checked his watch. It was eight forty-five. Bulma would be home in about an hour.  
  
He returned to the kitchen and pulled out the Tupperware of pancakes. He popped them in the microwave for a few minutes and then, despite the size of the pile, only put on a bit of butter and syrup. Sugar and dairy were hard to come by then. The Androids enjoyed attacking the things that would most hurt the humans.  
  
Trunks sat at the kitchen table next to the girl. Her hair was brushed and her face was clean. She was wearing a blue shirt this time, with a Capsule Corp logo on the front. Again, he found himself thinking of angels.  
  
He remembered her song from the night before. It was so touching and lonely. Then he started thinking...well, nothing else had gotten her talking.  
  
"I...I heard you singing last night."  
  
She froze. Her eyes widened. It was obvious that she hadn't known that he had heard.  
  
"You have a really pretty voice," he continued. "I kindof wish that you'd use it more."  
  
She didn't respond.  
  
He tried again. "How did it go, again?" He attempted to sing. "I don't know, what things I can do..."  
  
She giggled a bit and shook her head.  
  
He smiled. "That bad, am I? Well, you'll have to teach me."  
  
The girl stopped, not smiling or frowning, yet looking thoughtful.  
  
"Hey," said Trunks, fearing she might soon slip into tears. "In your own good time, you can." He put his hand on her shoulder to comfort her. "When you're ready to talk, go ahead. But no one's going to make you do anything you don't have to."  
  
She nodded.  
  
"All right." He smiled and stood. "But until then, I'll miss your voice."  
  
He turned to the kitchen to get himself a glass of orange juice.  
  
"I'm sorry."  
  
Trunks froze, his hand inches from the doorknob.  
  
She'd spoken.  
  
Slowly, he turned, not sure if he'd heard right, and if he had, he didn't want to disturb the dream. "What?"  
  
"I'm sorry," she repeated. Her voice was soft and sweet, like her face. "I didn't want to be a burden on you and your mother."  
  
Trunks stopped gaping. "No," he said, "you're not a burden. We're glad to have you."  
  
"I don't really want your pity, either, Trunks."  
  
Woah. Talk about blunt.  
  
"All right," he said slowly. "I won't deny that I felt sorry for you. I mean, you've probably lost a lot since... well..."  
  
She nodded.  
  
"So, what do you want?"  
  
She smiled. "Medical help." She indicated her ankle. "A place to say, and a friend or two. I did lose a lot. My mom, Dad, my best friend Kathryn..." She finally looked up at him with tears in her eyes. "I'm usually never quiet, but...but I saw it all. I actually saw them die. Then the Androids blew up my house and I was flung into my neighbors' house, or what was left of it. I was unconscious for the rest of the night. They probably thought that I was dead. The next thing I know, I see you fly down."  
  
He nodded. Quickly, he blinked back tears and reached behind him for the box of tissues on the counter. He offered them to the girl and she gratefully took one.  
  
"Do you know what I want?" asked Trunks.  
  
She politely blew her nose and shook her head no.  
  
"I want to know your name."  
  
"Oh!" she exclaimed. "I forgot! I'm sorry." She held out her hand. "My name's Jackie."  
  
He took her hand. "Jackie..." he tested it.  
  
She giggled. "Yeah, and you're Trunks and your mom's Bulma."  
  
"You got it."  
  
"What about your father? I haven't met him."  
  
Trunks released her hand and turned. "He died. In the attack off South City."  
  
"Oh, she murmured solemnly. "I'm sorry. I didn't know."  
  
"Nah, it's okay. You couldn't have known." He turned back to face her. "At least now we know that we have something in common."  
  
"We both have a reason to hate the Androids?" she offered.  
  
"Yeah, but I was going to say that we'd both lost close family."  
  
"Mmhm. But who hasn't? The orphanages have to keep turning kids away and some have actually closed down."  
  
"Yeah," he said. Then he wiped his eyes and said, "Okay, I think we ought to stop before we flood the house."  
  
Jackie did the same. "I'm kindof surprised that I still have tears after my Niagara Falls thing yesterday."  
  
"It's all right. The first day is always the hardest."  
  
They sat in silence for a minute.  
  
"So," said Jackie, picking up Bulma's note, "your mom has a lab?"  
  
"Yeah," answered Trunks. "This is Capsule Corp. This is where we invent all those little Capsules that are supposed to make life easier."  
  
"Even in our time? I thought that Capsules weren't being made anymore."  
  
"No, Mom says inventing calms her down. It's her escape from reality. Well, that and listening to Lord of the Dance while taking a bath."  
  
Jackie blinked a few times. "Um... okay."  
  
"Hey, do you want to see it? The lab, I mean."  
  
"What, right now?"  
  
"Yeah, it's right downstairs."  
  
"She has a lab in your house?" exclaimed Jackie.  
  
"Yeah," said Trunks. "It's big enough for it, don't you think?"  
  
Jackie considered it. "Yeah... Sure, okay, let's go!"  
  
"All right! Come on!" Trunks jumped up from his chair and handed her the crutches.  
  
"Oh, wait!" Jackie suddenly realized. "You didn't eat your breakfast."  
  
"It can wait," he tried to say, but he was interrupted by his stomach growling again.  
  
"No," said Jackie firmly. "Don't think that I wasn't watching yesterday. You eat more than my Uncle Frankie did!" She pulled him into his seat. "You eat and then we'll explore Bulma's lab."  
  
Trunks stared at her for a minute, a bit surprised at her change. She'd gone from such a quiet thing to a normal teenager. But like he'd said, the first day is always the hardest. Maybe she was just trying to keep busy. "Okay, but I need to get a-"  
  
"I'll get you a drink. You just eat," she said and hobbled on her crutch into the kitchen.  
  
Trunks was amazed. "She sure is something else," he thought. Then, smiling, he turned to his breakfast and ate.  
  
* * * * * * * *  
  
Fifteen minutes later, the pair was down in Bulma's lab. Jackie was looking at everything as Trunks gave explanations.  
  
"That's a dragon radar. You can pinpoint the exact location of a dragonball with this. That's a new hover-cycle Mom's been working on. That's a cure for the common cold. Don't drink it! So far it only turns people weird colors. I'm not sure what's in this Capsule, so it's probably best not to open it."  
  
"Your mom sure makes some weird gadgets," said Jackie, holding up something that resembled a mechanical squid on steroids.  
  
"Yeah, well, it's her hobby. And some of them are actually kind of handy."  
  
"I'm sure," she said as the squid-thing began to spout bubbles.  
  
Trunks laughed and turned it off for her.  
  
"Thanks." She turned to something big that was covered in s canvas. "What's under here?"  
  
"Oh," said Trunks, stepping beside her. "It's a time machine."  
  
"Saw that movie," retorted Jackie, trying to lift the cover. "What is it, really?"  
  
"Like I said," Trunks pulled off the cover, "a time machine."  
  
It was shaped like a huge bullet on legs with a bubble on the top as the window.  
  
"Whoa." Jackie ran her fingers across the metal. "How does it work?"  
  
"Well, technically, it doesn't yet," he said as she limped around it for a better look. "But we'll get it in a few years."  
  
"'We'? You help your mom?" Jackie peered at him from behind the machine.  
  
"Well, yeah. I've got more than strength going for me." He tapped his head. "Considering my mom, I'm pretty smart."  
  
Jackie stood in front of him. "All that and you're cute, too."  
  
He gazed down at her. "You're not so bad looking either, you know."  
  
By then they were both beginning to blush. They stood in silence, neither knowing what to say.  
  
Suddenly a buzzer went off over their heads, making Jackie jump, and a too- happy mechanical voice said, "Bulma is now home. Bulma is now home." A TV in the corner showed a fuzzy picture of Bulma putting the key in the front door.  
  
Trunks suddenly lit up. "Hey, Jackie, Come on!" He took her hand and helped her up the stairs as fast as he could.  
  
"Mom!" he called when they finally reached her. "I'd like you to meet-"  
  
"Jackie," the girl finished for her. "And it's a real pleasure to finally meet you."  
  
* * * * * * * * * *  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own anything except Jackie and the squid-thing. Ha ha! You finally know her name!  
  
Next chapter: Ooh, it seems like Trunks and Jackie are playing a game of cat-and-mouse flirting. Could there really be something brewing between them? And, it may seem like she's told all, but what might Jackie be hiding? 'Till next chapter, bwahahahahaha! 


	4. Past's Films

1 The Song of an Angel  
  
By ssj Kinara  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own DBZ. All I own is Jackie. She came from my overactive, anime-centered imagination. So don't look for her anywhere but this story. You'll be wasting your oh-so-limited time.  
  
A/N: I'm so sorry that this took so long! I had writer's block and then a huge English project and then my mind was elsewhere...you get the idea. Anyway, sorry again!! Gomen nasai! Please forgive me! I was going to make this longer but I decided to make it two chapters instead.  
  
Thanks again to anyone who reviewed! Every time I get another one I feel sorrier for taking so long!  
  
Recap: The silent visitor has spoken! Her name is Jackie and she and Trunks are touching on something that might be more than friendship...  
  
* * * * * * * * * *  
  
Chapter four: Past's films  
  
Bulma stood n the hall, silent for a few moments. Then, pushing all of her groceries into Trunks' arms, she gathered Jackie into a hug that no mother could resist at such a moment. She had spoken! The silent little orphan, injured yet seemingly strong, had finally found her voice.  
  
It was as if Jackie had arrived for the first time again. Bulma gushed over her, assuring her that she was welcome in their home and that she would be well cared for and how happy Bulma was that they could finally have a real conversation! The two women went into the den to talk, leaving Trunks forgotten with the groceries.  
  
"Well," he thought to himself as he began to put away the foodstuffs, "at least they're getting along. That's more than I can say about that snapping turtle that I brought home a few years back..."  
  
Trunks soon joined them and the threesome talked for hours. Bulma kept asking Jackie questions about herself, her family, her friends, how her life had been, how Trunks had gotten her to talk, everything! Sometimes, before Jackie would answer, she would pause to keep herself from crying again, and Bulma would apologize for bringing it up.  
  
By lunchtime, Trunks could've written a biography on this girl he'd only met the day before. Jackie Shiro was an only child living with her close- knit family always being in walking distance. All she'd ever really known was in that city. Her best friend, Kathryn had lived next door. She knew the streets well enough to walk them blindfolded. Then, that one awful night, the Androids had come and everything was gone. She'd seen the clean streets turn to rubble, and her memories dashed. She had even seen her family and friends die, everyone that she'd ever loved...  
  
At this point in her story, she couldn't hold back the tears anymore. Her will broke and she bent over, covering her face with her hands and wept.  
  
"Oh!" Bulma exclaimed sympathetically. She got up from the loveseat and kneeled in front of her taking her hands in her own. "Look, Jackie, it's all right. You don't have to say anything else."  
  
"Yeah," said Trunks, who'd seated himself next to her. He placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "We already know the rest of the story."  
  
Jackie sniffed, trying to recover and nodded.  
  
"Okay," said Bulma. "How about we have some lunch? We can talk some more while we eat, if you want. Trunks, you help Jackie to the table and then I need your help in the kitchen." She left, her mind bustling with things to do.  
  
  
  
Trunks stood and offered her his hand, but Jackie refused, her eyes still damp. "Why is the world so cruel?" she wondered out loud. "Dad wasn't a bad person, Trunks, and neither was Mom, or anyone back home! None of them deserved to die like that..." She closed her eyes and the tears ran down her face.  
  
Trunks sighed and sat next to her again. "Jackie, nothing that I can say could ever bring back your family."  
  
"I know," she said, wiping away the tears. "But why did it have to be us? We never did anything to those two Androids."  
  
"Jackie," he fished for the right words. "Sometimes...sometimes the worst things happen to the nicest people. And then the best things happen to the worst of people. Other times thing seem to be the way they should. It's just...well, the world never seems to be fair. Maybe we're all supposed to learn something big from this, but I don't know. All we can do is live...and help others live."  
  
Her eyes dryer, she nodded.  
  
Trunks smiled and tried to help her up again.  
  
Jackie shook her head. "I can do it on my own," she said obstinately.  
  
"But your foot—"  
  
"Hey, it's all right." She smiled. "I have a crutch." She gripped the walking stick and eased herself up carefully. "Besides, I hate to feel like useless mass."  
  
"No! Don't think that—"  
  
"No, don't you think that I can't walk." She grinned. "Because I can." Jackie took a wobbling step forward. "Sort of."  
  
Trunks smiled. She sure was something else! "It's not a bad thing to be the one being helped, you know." She tried to ignore him as she tried to walk further. He chuckled. "So, were you always this strong willed or is it a cry for help?"  
  
Still making her way forward, she looked over her shoulder at him, a playful glint in her eye. "Well, it looks like you'll have to figure that out for yourself."  
  
"Ooh, a challenge!" He rubbed his hands together as if in preparation. "I accept!"  
  
She laughed with him and, like a true gentleman he opened the door for her. Both smiling, they made their way to the kitchen.  
  
As soon as Jackie was seated, Trunks went to help his mother in the kitchen.  
  
"It's about time you got here," said Bulma. "C'mon, I already heated up the chicken. You carry out the salad, here."  
  
In a few minutes, the table was set and the chicken and salad were in the center of the table.  
  
"I'm sorry that there's not more to eat," Bulma apologized to Jackie. "We were talking so long that I didn't have time to cook more. Not like there was much anyway, thanks to the Androids."  
  
"It's all right," said Jackie. "I don't mind."  
  
"That's not the point," Bulma was beginning to make herself angry. "Those Androids destroy everything that resemble a normal life. I know you two don't remember how it was before them, but you're young and you shouldn't have to live in fear!" Frustrated, Bulma put her head in her hands. "I grew up in this very house, and it was so different for me. I didn't have a care in the world where my next meal would come from or if I would live another day! You two on the other hand have grown up learning every safety measure known to man by heart! It's like all that Goku worked for in his life was for nothing!"  
  
Jackie had sat through Bulma's rant, letting her get all of her anger out and still listening to what she had to say. "Goku?" she wondered under her breath so no one heard her. "Who's Goku?"  
  
Trunks on the other hand, knew what Bulma could do when she was angry. "Mom, calm down. What's done is done and all we can do is to fight what might happen."  
  
"No! We can still change what happened! We have the time machine, right? We'll finish it and then we can go back and change what happened! We'll avenge your father's death! We'll make what he did worthwhile!"  
  
Jackie, getting even more confused, was now thinking, "What did Trunks' father do?"  
  
"You make it sound as if you know that he fought for us! You told me he never really said what he was thinking, so how do you know that he didn't go into it thinking that it was just another battle to get him stronger?" Trunks had caught Bulma's attitude.  
  
"Go into what?" Jackie asked the air.  
  
"Trunks Briefs, don't you dare talk about your father that way! You should have seen the way he looked at you before he left for South City! He knew what he was getting into! He knew he might never see you, his only baby boy again! I saw him hug you and tell you he loved you and to take care of me! There was a true fatherly love in his eyes! Anyone could tell right then that he was willing to die for us!"  
  
Jackie pressed her hand to her head, as if trying to remember something vague. "...South City...dead..."Suddenly, the picture came together for her and she gasped. "Oh my..."  
  
This time Trunks heard her. He was startled by her stressed appearance. "Jackie? Are you okay? Do you have a headache?"  
  
Bulma finally noticed Jackie holding her head. "Oh, Jackie, I'm sorry." The anger was completely gone from her demeanor. "We didn't mean to upset you. Sometimes I just get worked up and I start yelling without thinking."  
  
"I remember him..." Jackie murmured, a slight panic in her voice.  
  
"Remember who?" Trunks asked, a concerned look marring his handsome face.  
  
Ignoring his question, or maybe not hearing it, she frantically took Trunks' hand. "Trunks, what did your father look like? Was he tall with scars on his face and an orange outfit?"  
  
Taken aback by her questions, he stumbled to find the right words. "N-no. That actually sounds more like...Yamcha."  
  
"Then was he the one in blue with black hair that stuck strait up?"  
  
At the same time that Trunks nodded, Bulma asked her, "Jackie, what are you getting at?"  
  
Jackie leaned back into her chair, her eyes not focusing and tearing up. Slowly she took a breath. "I...I was there... at the first attack. I remember your father... and the rest."  
  
"What?!" both cried together.  
  
"Jackie, you can't remember it," pleaded Bulma. "You couldn't have been more than two!"  
  
The girl shook her head. "No," she said. "My dad...he made a home movie of that day."  
  
* * * * * * * * * *  
  
A/N: Ooh, bad me! A cliffhanger! I'll try to get the next chapter out faster, promise! But, the more y'all review the more likely I'll be to working really hard at getting it posted! The button's right at the bottom of the screen, so review away!  
  
Next chapter: Trunks and Jackie go searching for the video! But will they want to watch the horrors on it? If they do, how will Trunks react to it? Find out in chapter five! 


	5. Truth Told

1 The Song of an Angel  
  
By ssj Kinara  
  
Disclaimer: Look, I still don't own DB/Z/GT, okay? If I did, I'd be a middle-aged, chain smoking, extremely shy, Japanese man! I am not any of these. Oh, but I do own Jackie and her family.  
  
A/N: Sorry I took so long again, but this chapter took a while to write. Thanks to all o' y'all who reviewed again!  
  
This chapter has a warning! If you cry easily, you might not like this chapter. Hey, I wrote it, and when I read over it, I almost cried! I'd tell you more, but I don't want to give away the plot.  
  
Recap: Jackie's finally talking, and she and Trunks are hitting it off pretty well. But what's this? Her dad made a home video of the attack south of South City?! Now how're Trunks and Bulma going to react?  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
Chapter five: "Truth Told"  
  
  
  
Bulma, Trunks, and Jackie were in the living room again, the meal forgotten.  
  
"So let me make sure I have this right," said Trunks. "When you were about one, you were living in the town southwest of South City. Your dad was making home movies when the Androids attacked. He never turned off the camera. He filmed the running and the Androids and everything. Your mother ran with you and most of the other citizens while he stayed. By then my father and the rest of the Z-team showed up. And your dad stayed to film them dying?"  
  
Jackie slouched in her seat. Her eyes were damp and she sniffed back a sob. "It's not like he was cruel," she explained, her voice breaking. "He told me when I asked. He just wanted to record it. He knew we were making history by being there. Then, when the heroes showed up – we didn't know what to call them except that – he told us that he wanted to show their bravery to their last minutes. He told us..." she trailed off as she began to sob again.  
  
Bulma put her arm around her, not knowing what to say. There was a videotape of her love's last moments. Trunks could see his father moving in his true environment – the battlefield, instead of only still photos.  
  
After a few minutes, Jackie finally regained some composure and wiped her eyes.  
  
"Jackie," said Bulma, very quietly and soothingly, "where is the video now?"  
  
"It...It was at my house," she bowed her head and swallowed. "But...I doubt if even half of a phone dial was left whole. My entire house was destroyed, and I'm sure the tape went with it."  
  
Trunks' heart fell like lead. He'd been hoping against hope that the tape would've survived...and he would've been able to see his father and the others, especially Gohan, again. He should've known that it wouldn't be; he'd seen the remains of the city, after all.  
  
"But," Jackie was saying, "we always kept a copy at Nana's. She lived in the outskirts of the city and I think the Androids didn't blow up that part of the neighborhood. Her copy's probably still there."  
  
"Yes! Then let's go get it!" Trunks leaped up surprising both women. "C'mon, Jackie, I can carry you there like before."  
  
"Trunks," said Jackie solemnly. "You've never seen this video. It's not just a normal home movie. This is the terroristic destruction of my hometown and the brutal and aimless murder of your father. You don't want to see it. I've grown up watching it and I still sometimes get nightmares."  
  
"Jackie," he pleaded. He kneeled beside her, taking her hands in his. "Jackie, I've never seen my father besides still photos. You can't get to know someone through a photo and hand-me-down stories. But if I can see my father at his highest moment and see him move, it would mean the world to me. Please, Jackie. For me, I want to see my father. Please..."  
  
  
  
She was looking at him straight in the eyes. A true debate was reeling through her head. To deny this boy to seeing his father who he couldn't remember, or to let him see it and let him feel all of the real crunching emotions of witnessing a loved one die. He was a strong boy, but sometimes childish. His eyes were begging her, pleading with her.  
  
Finally, she made up her mind. "Okay," she said, not able to look him in the eyes anymore. "Let's go get the movie."  
  
* * * * * *  
  
  
  
Within ten minutes, Trunks was yet again carrying Jackie across the sky, but in the opposite direction that they'd flown in... Was it only yesterday?  
  
Before they had gone, Bulma had pulled Trunks aside.  
  
"You don't have to bring Jackie. You could go and find it by yourself. She doesn't have to see it again."  
  
Trunks knew that 'it' was her destroyed city, her past. "Mom," he countered, "I don't know which house it is or what the tape looks like or if it's even labeled. With what's on it, they could've even hidden it. If she doesn't come I might never find it. And I know that you want to see Dad again, too."  
  
Bulma couldn't argue with his last statement. Rather sadly, she allowed them to go.  
  
"We're almost there," said Trunks.  
  
Jackie nodded. "I can see it."  
  
The details quickly came into view: the half-buildings, the rubble, and the few remaining homes. Jackie couldn't bear it. She hid her eyes in Trunks' shoulder. He didn't object.  
  
Trunks stopped somewhere above the center of the city. "Jackie, I need you to tell me where your nana's house is."  
  
Timidly, she lifted her head and scanned their surroundings. Swallowing, she pointed. "Over there." There were a few scattered houses left with only a few holes burned into the walls. He flew in that direction until she told him to stop. "That one." She pointed to a house just to the right. Most of the front right of the house and roof was burnt in.  
  
They hadn't brought Jackie's crutch with them; Trunks said it would've been inconvenient to carry the whole way and they didn't know how stable the floor would be. Instead, he flew through the hole in the house and let her lean on him.  
  
Some of the living room floor was destroyed as well, revealing a cellar or basement of some kind. Curious, he had Jackie lean against the blackened wall. "Wait here," he told her. I'll be right back."  
  
"But-"  
  
Trunks was already in the cellar before Jackie could truly protest.  
  
Looking around, he saw a lot of boxes, broken jars, and canned preserves scattered on the floor and lining the walls. There was a small staircase leading up to what had been a locked door. It was now cracked and splintered beyond repair. It looked as if the blast from the Androids had come right in and blown up like a time bomb.  
  
This had been a storm shelter, he realized. Which meant, Jackie's nana...  
  
In a dark, far corner, Trunks could see a figure lying still.  
  
He turned away quickly, blanching and trying to control his stomach.  
  
Trunks returned to the first floor where Jackie was waiting.  
  
"Was Nana there?" she asked, a bit of fear in her eyes.  
  
"No," he said too quickly.  
  
Jackie closed her eyes, bowing her head, her eyebrows knitted. She knew what he must've seen.  
  
After a few minutes of silence and unheard prayer, she turned, biting her lip, and walked beside the wall for support.  
  
"Hey, where're you going?" said Trunks pulling her arm around his shoulder for support.  
  
"The video's in that closet." She nodded to the door in front of her. It was broken into a shape made the door impossible to open by a normal person.  
  
Luckily, Trunks wasn't a normal person. He forced the door open, pieces splintering off as he did. A mess of videos was on the floor, knocked from their shelf.  
  
Jackie, using the doorframe for support, lowered herself onto the floor. She began looking at each one, then putting it aside. Trunks didn't offer his help since he didn't know at all what it looked like.  
  
Finally, she looked at one a bit longer than the rest. "This is it," she said quietly. She held up her hand and Trunks pulled her up and put his arm around her waist to support her. He looked at the label. It read "John 11:25-26".  
  
"What's with the title?"  
  
Jackie smiled. "Nana was really religious. Those verses talk a bit about life after death. "  
  
"Oh..." he wasn't really sure what to say. No one in his family had really cared about religion. He didn't even know if any of his relatives had ever had a religion. Instead, he let the subject drop. "So, are we gonna go now? We got what we came for."  
  
Jackie nodded and put one arm around his neck, letting him pick her up. In her other hand was the video.  
  
* * * * * *  
  
  
  
It was dark by the time that Trunks and Jackie were ready to watch the video. Bulma had decided to watch it tomorrow and retired to bed early.  
  
"I'm afraid that I'll get nightmares...again," she'd said.  
  
Trunks was sitting on the couch, thinking, "I'm going to see my dad, I'm going to see my dad..."  
  
Jackie fingered the tape, preparing to put it into the VCR. "You don't have to watch it," she said again.  
  
"Jackie, I want to see it," he told her. "And if I get sick of have nightmares or am scarred for life, it's my own fault. I put no blame on you. Now, please, play the tape."  
  
Nodding, she took a deep breath, inserted the video, and pressed play. She quickly sat right next to Trunks as an image filled the screen.  
  
A young woman was holding a baby's small hands as she was taking a few waddling steps. A wide grin crossed the woman's face as she slowly let go, and the child didn't fall. She took a step, and another, and another.  
  
"John! Johnny, look! She's doing it!" she exclaimed in delight looking back and forth from the camera and the child.  
  
"I see, Liz! That's my girl! And I've got Jackie's first steps on video!"  
  
Suddenly, Trunks realized what he was watching. Jackie's parents were the young woman and the man behind the camera. Daring a look at her, he saw Jackie beside him, her eyes welling up and her hand over her mouth, trying desperately to keep from breaking down. "Mommy..." was the only sound that escaped her lips.  
  
Then a great banging, like an explosion sounded from the TV. His attention again glued to the screen, he saw the carpet, and them movement as the camera was picked up. The woman was picking up a fallen, crying Jackie.  
  
"What was that?" the woman asked her husband, frightened.  
  
"I don't know." The camera was moving again, towards the front door now. It opened, and what was revealed was a scene that Trunks had seen too many times. From his house in the suburbs, John Shiro focused his camera towards the main city, where a huge cloud of ash and dirt was rising. Towards the horizon, tints of orange, red, and gold were starting to show.  
  
John cursed. "Liz! T-the city's on fire!"  
  
"What?!" Elizabeth Shiro could be heard shuffling her feet, and the camera turned in time to catch her eyes widening and a gasp escape her lips. Little Jackie was in her arms, still whimpering from her fall.  
  
Gaining back her voice, she asked, "Do you think it was some kind of gas explosion? Like maybe a pipe broke-"  
  
"A pipe?" John focused the camera on the rising smoke. "From an explosion that big? Liz, it looks like half of the city's on fire!"  
  
Suddenly, another explosion shook the walls and sent new sparks into the dark, rising cloud.  
  
Jackie began to screech her loudest again. John turned and Trunks saw Liz attempting to calm her down.  
  
"Liz, stay here," said John.  
  
"What? Where're you going?"  
  
"Not far. Don't worry, I just want to see if I can get a better view from down the street," he said as he walked into the street.  
  
For a few minutes, he walked back and forth along the street trying to see as much of the blast as possible. It sounded like a few small blasts were happening and once like someone was shooting a gun, but no more huge blasts occurred.  
  
Suddenly, John turned the camera to the sound of running footsteps. A woman, crying hysterically, was running down the street.  
  
"What happened?" John called to her, trying to catch her attention.  
  
She saw him but hardly slowed down. "How can you stand there with a camera?!" she screamed at him. "Are you sane? They're going to destroy us all! We're all going to die!" She ran past without stopping, leaving John wondering whom she was talking about. Trunks, unfortunately, knew it all.  
  
Almost immediately, a group of people came running past, a family this time. The father was bleeding from his shoulder, but seemed to be the only one injured.  
  
"What's going on?" John asked again, more urgently now.  
  
Again, the only answer came from the father: "What're you standing around for? Get your family and run before they come to get you, too!" and they continued to run.  
  
Now John was really worried. He turned up the street and ran up to the next person running, a man in a business suit cradling his arm as if it was broken.  
  
John grabbed his shoulder to keep him from running, too, and repeated his question in a panic. The camera caught the dead fear in the man's eyes. "Flying..." he sputtered. "Flying people... fire..."  
  
"Please! Speak clearly!" said John wondering if the man had his sanity.  
  
"Two flying people...They came...Blew up the city..."  
  
"With bombs?"  
  
"No...With their hands... Killing people... horrible...evil laughter...Run, before they come here too!"  
  
John let the man run. After hardly a pause, he ran back to his house.  
  
"Liz!" he called to her, running into little Jackie's nursery where she was sitting by her cradle. "Hurry! Grab Jackie and get out!"  
  
"What? John, what're you yelling about?"  
  
"Two...I don't know... terrorists are destroying the city. People are in the streets, running. I want you two somewhere safe!"  
  
Just then, an even louder and stronger blast came, nearly knocking John off of his feet.  
  
"See? That was even closer than the others!"  
  
Without hesitation now, Liz took up Jackie, who was crying again and ran outside, closely followed by John.  
  
The streets were crowding with people. The injuries were worse and each person looked scared, furious, hysterical, and sad. Some were carrying guns with them.  
  
John turned to focus the camera on his wife. "You take Jackie and run ahead. Go with the crowd. I'll catch up later," he told her.  
  
"What? Where are you going to be?" Then, sudden fear filled her eyes. "No! John, don't be a hero!"  
  
But he was already running towards the city, Liz's screams fading into those of the fleeing people.  
  
Still running, John turned the camera to face himself. Tears were starting to form in his eyes as he spoke. "Lizzy, I plan on making it back, but if I don't, I want to tell you and Jackie that I love you two more than anything else in the world and not to keep this from Jackie. I want her to know that her daddy was trying to help the people..."  
  
His voice broke off, and he turned the camera forwards again, but Trunks could still hear him crying.  
  
Trunks again dared to look over to Jackie, who was also crying. She'd pulled her knees up to her chest and was crying into a pillow. "Daddy...daddy..."  
  
Trunks placed a hand on her shoulder trying to comfort her. She put aside the pillow and nestled into his side, placing her head on his shoulder. Still sniffing back tears. He put his arm around her shoulders and turned back to the video.  
  
John was in the town now. All around him was rubble, fire, and death. "Oh, God..." he said to Heaven. "What could've done this?"  
  
In the far distance he saw a glow and then something exploded and a building fell. The force of the explosion sent John flying backwards. The camera fell then blacked out.  
  
A few seconds later, the screen turned back on and Trunks saw a slightly bleeding John hitting the side of the camera. Then he turned and carefully peeked over a small blockade of debris. Breathing heavily, John focused on a scene about thirty yards away. Two teenagers, a blonde girl and a raven- haired boy were facing off with seven other people.  
  
"Within the last five minutes," John was saying, "these seven people showed up. The other two are the terrorists."  
  
He focused on the seven. "I've never seen such an odd set of people! The first one's tall and I think he has scars on his face."  
  
"Yamcha," said Trunks.  
  
"The next guy's tall and bald and...has three eyes!"  
  
"Tien."  
  
"There's a short little dwarf next to him. He looks kind of like a clown."  
  
"Chouzu."  
  
"The next person is tall and green."  
  
"Piccolo."  
  
"The next guy's short, but not nearly as short as the other, and his hair sticks straight up."  
  
"DAD!" Trunks realized. Jackie took his hand.  
  
"The next guy is short and looks a bit like a monk."  
  
Trunks knew it was Krillin but he was still concentrating on his father.  
  
"And the last guy's just a kid!"  
  
"Gohan." Trunks squeezed Jackie's hand. He was seeing his father for the first time and his old teacher again. He couldn't believe it!  
  
John was still talking, quietly, trying not to be heard. "They've been yelling at each other, especially the green man and the man whose hair stands up. But the two terrorists don't seem to care! It's hard to hear, but I think they said something about hating humans."  
  
He stopped talking then, and strained to hear what was going on.  
  
The raven-haired boy, Android 17, was talking. "All humans are weak, not slightly worthy of life. We are simply acting as exterminators."  
  
The blonde, 18, began speaking. "And we will finish the job. We will kill every one of the humans. Man, woman, and child, every...single...one!"  
  
Suddenly, the ground began to shake. "What the...?" Was there going to be an earthquake now as well?! Then the camera caught sight of Vegeta. He was hunched over, and pebbles were flying away from him. A fire was burning around him as he was yelling from pain.  
  
"Not! Bulma!" He cursed through clenched teeth. "Trunks!" he screamed and shot into the air.  
  
"Holy...!!"  
  
"Aaaaaagggggghhhhhhhh!" Vegeta was screaming in rage as he darted down, down to attack the Androids, the evil things that had threatened his wife and son. He raised his fist to kill the dark-haired boy.  
  
And a fist emerged from Vegeta's back.  
  
17 smirked, safely away from Vegeta's blow, his own fist through the prince's body. Vegeta's eyes were blank, but his shallow gasps revealed his quickly fleeting life.  
  
17 stood, and let Vegeta's limp body fall to the ground.  
  
"Aw," complained the monster, "you soiled my sleeve. I'll have to teach you a lesson." He kicked the dying prince high into the air. "Say bye-bye," mocked 17, raising his hand. And he blew an energy blast at Trunks' father.  
  
Trunks couldn't take it anymore. He got up, opened a side door, and puked up his guts.  
  
"Trunks!" Jackie called to him. The video was still playing and now the rest of the carnage was taking place in the background as John was running towards where Vegeta had landed. There was no way Trunks could look at his father now.  
  
"Turn it off," he groaned to her, trying to avoid any mental picture. She obeyed quickly. Then, carefully on her injured foot, she made her way next to him. He had both hands on the doorframe for balance and still had his head down.  
  
"Trunks..."  
  
"I know," he groaned. "You told me. I didn't listen. And now I'll have nightmares."  
  
She placed her hand on his back and carefully rubbed it, trying to calm his nerves. "That's not what I was going to say," she said. "I was going to tell you what happened next."  
  
"Oh, please, God! No!"  
  
"I'm not going to describe the scene at all. You wouldn't be able to handle it."  
  
He moaned.  
  
"Daddy actually found your father, alive, with a few words left in him. He told him to tell Bulma that he loved her. He also told him to tell his son, you, to take care of Bulma and that he truly loved you. That's all he said...then it ended."  
  
Silence filled the room as Trunks tried to comprehend it all.  
  
"If you ask me, Trunks," she continued, "I'd say that you're following his wishes very well. I bet he's proud, wherever he is."  
  
Jackie then turned to let Trunks be alone.  
  
"Jackie," called Trunks before she could leave.  
  
Turning around, Jackie saw Trunks' eyes full of tears. He pushed himself away from the wall. He gathered Jackie into a hug and pulled her close.  
  
"Thank you," he whispered through his tears into her shoulder. "Thank you for letting me see the truth."  
  
  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
A/N: I told you guys it was sad. And if you couldn't imagine what the video was like, think of a little bit of Donte's Peak and a lot of the 9/11 show they had on CBS or ABC or something a few months ago about the two brothers filming exactly what happened on September 11th. I have it on tape. *Sigh * Stupid terrorists!!  
  
Okay, I'm not going to be able to upload anything else for about two weeks because I'll be at my grandma's house, where I do not have access to a computer at all! Please forgive me, and I'll try to put up something as soon as I get back!  
  
Next Chapter: Trunks and Jackie get a little closer. What does Bulma have to say about this?? 


	6. Mother's Blessing

The Song of an Angel  
  
By ssj Kinara  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own DBZ (although I wouldn't mind owning Trunks...). All I own are Jackie and her family and the video Jackie's father made.  
  
A/N: Sorry! That took a little longer than I thought to finish. And then Fanfiction.net was having problems and wasn't working correctly until I was on vacation! So I posted this as soon as I could! Anyway, thank you, nightmarelover who was the only one who reviewed chapter 5! Oh, well. Since Fanfiction.net was having problems all of last two weeks, I'll give the rest of you a break and pretend that it wasn't your fault :-P  
  
Recap: Jackie's been living with the Briefs for two days now. Yesterday, Trunks watched the video of the day that his father died. How will his life change now?  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
Chapter six: Mother's Blessing  
  
"Daddy! Daddy!"  
  
Trunks quickly sat up in bed. Yells were coming from the guestroom down the hall, Jackie's room.  
  
"Daddy!" Her screams were frantic. Scared for her, he leapt out of bed and ran to her room.  
  
Flinging the door open, he saw her writhing under the sheets knotted around her. "Daddy!" she screamed in a nightmare.  
  
He ran to her side. Grabbing her shoulders, he shook her, trying to wake her. "Jackie! Jackie! It's a nightmare, wake up!"  
  
"Aaagh!" She sat up, broken from what had scared her so badly. She looked around, trying to find out where she was, only to find herself looking into Trunks' blue eyes.  
  
Her own eyes welled up. "Trunks!" she cried and threw herself into his arms, weeping.  
  
He was surprised for only a few seconds, then he put his arms around her and sat next to her. "Shh," he whispered. "It was just a nightmare. They happen to all of us."  
  
Actually, Trunks was surprised that she had been the one who woke up screaming instead of him, after what he'd seen in her father's home movie. Yet, here she was, her head buried in his shoulder.  
  
Instinctively, he began to stroke her hair.  
  
She sniffed back her tears, a habit Trunks had become accustomed to in her, and lifted her head a bit.  
  
"I...I had a dream about Daddy," she whispered, as if she was too frightened to say it aloud.  
  
"I could tell," he told her. "You kept screaming 'Daddy' in your sleep."  
  
Jackie nodded. "I dreamed about the Androids...they...and he...'cause of the video..." she managed to say before breaking into tears.  
  
"Hey, it's okay," he said, holding her more tightly. "It was just a nightmare."  
  
"No," She seemed to choke out the word. "It's not...he's gone, Trunks. For real, he is. And nothing can bring him back."  
  
Trunks sighed. It was the only thing he could think of saying except: "The dragonballs could have," which he said anyway.  
  
Jackie pulled away from him enough to look at him in the eyes.  
  
"The dragon's WHAT?!"  
  
"Huh? Oh, no no no! Nothing like... They were precious gems that granted wishes."  
  
She was still looking at him a bit suspiciously but with confused eyes.  
  
"Okay, let me try this again." He took a deep breath. "See, the dragonballs are seven, round precious gems, each with a different number of red stars on it, one through seven. When you gather them together, you have to summon the dragon. You tell the dragon your wish and he'll grant it."  
  
"Oh," said Jackie. "So, why haven't you used the dragonballs to wish the Androids dead and everyone else back to life?"  
  
Trunks shook his head. "There are no more dragonballs. When Piccolo, the tall, green one from the movie, died, so did Kami, the guardian of Earth. Kami made the dragonballs, so they were connected to him. Kami died, so the dragonballs disappeared."  
  
"Oh," she murmured again. Then she smiled a small smile. "But I bet they did great things when they were still around."  
  
"Yeah," he chuckled, "you wouldn't believe how many times we brought people back to life, and what the first wish was."  
  
She snuggled into his chest. "Tell me about it," she requested, a bit of fatigue behind her voice.  
  
So he began to tell her all of the stories that his mother had told him. He told her about Bulma first meeting Goku, Oolong's wish for comfy underwear, the fight with Raditz where Vegeta had heard about the dragonballs, and the trip to Namek.  
  
Unknown to him, he had another listener at the door. Bulma stood there, unseen in the darkness. As she turned away from the cozy scene, she wasn't sure if she should be thrilled or disappointed for the obvious couple.  
  
"Trunks," she whispered under her breath, walking to her bedroom, "I told you not to make a move on her."  
  
She'd told him that with the girl's best interests in mind. Jackie'd been emotionally unstable and dealing with the deaths of her family and friends.  
  
Bulma placed her hand on the doorknob to her room.  
  
But, she thought, they looked so happy together. He definitely seems to care about her, taking into account the way he's always ready to comfort her. And Jackie, too, really cares about him, to go and get that video, even with her injury.  
  
She rested her aching head against the door.  
  
"Vegeta," she called almost silently. "I know you probably think I'm being silly, caring this much about it. Still, I need your help on this one. What am I supposed to do?"  
  
* * * * * *  
  
"What am I supposed to do?"  
  
The words echoed to the other world, and were heard by a certain little cloud. He groaned, knowing what she expected him to do, but inwardly he allowed himself a half-grin.  
  
"Why is it that she only comes to me when she has a problem?" he mused aloud. Still, the yellow cloud calmed himself and concentrated.  
  
* * * * * *  
  
Bulma lie in bed, half-asleep, when she felt a slight wind brush against her cheek. The only thing was that she never left the window open anymore, not since the Androids. Yet, she knew what it meant exactly.  
  
She quickly sat up and looked to see her husband standing in his usual arms- crossed stance, only he was a misty figure, like a ghost.  
  
"Vegeta!" she cried, leaping up to hug him. Her hands passed right through his chest.  
  
"Woman," he scolded. "Why do you insist on always doing that when you already know what the result will be?"  
  
She sat back on the edge of her bed, her head bowed slightly. "I'm sorry. I forgot."  
  
"Again."  
  
Now she glared up at him. "Well, it's not like you've never forgotten something."  
  
"Not as often as you keep stepping through me!"  
  
"What about coming to visit us? You hardly ever come to see us anymore!"  
  
"Woman, I'm DEAD! I can only come when one of you calls for me!"  
  
"No dice. I've seen you come in the middle of the night just to look at me or Trunks!"  
  
"Aack! You were awake? You saw that?"  
  
Bulma grinned triumphantly. "I always could and still can tell whenever you enter a room."  
  
Vegeta scowled for a minute. Then his face softened a bit. "That's the woman I've come to know." He seated himself next to her on the bed. "So what's happened with Trunks this time? I know it's not Saiyan puberty, because we already discussed-"  
  
"Oh, no no." She waved her hands back and forth as if to erase that thought. "See, I think he's got a little bit of a girlfriend-"  
  
"About time!" interrupted the deceased prince. "I was starting to worry about that boy."  
  
"Vegeta, will you just listen to me for a minute?!" Bulma said, frustrated. Vegeta scowled, but let her continue.  
  
"She's one of the refugee girls from an Android attack. As far as any of us can tell, she's the only one who survived. She's been grieving over her friends and family, and I'm worried about her well being. I just don't think it's a good idea for Trunks to be making a move on her."  
  
Vegeta sat still, staring, thinking. Finally, he spoke. "Do you remember what you said when we first got together?"  
  
Bulma nodded. "I said that we might not be ready and I didn't know if it would be right."  
  
Vegeta cocked a smile. "And I told you that I was sure and that I knew what I was doing."  
  
"Yeah," Bulma smiled. "I remember that."  
  
"And you keep telling me how smart Trunks is and how confident he seems. So let him use some of that intelligence and expect that he knows what he's doing." He crossed his arms. "Besides, he's my son. Why wouldn't he know what he's doing?" he said arrogantly.  
  
"Vegeta!" She tried to shove him, but her hand passed through him again.  
  
He smirked. "You forgot again."  
  
Bulma scowled at him for a few seconds. Then she announced, "I'm going back to sleep," and crawled to her pillow. "You can stay if you like."  
  
"No, last time Yamma-sama got mad and ranted at me for hours about how he has enough to worry about with all of Earth's dead by the Androids."  
  
Bulma shrugged and pulled her sheets up to her shoulders. "Suit yourself."  
  
Within a few minutes, Bulma's breathing had slowed and she was fully asleep. Vegeta watched her lying there, still on the side of the bed she'd used while he was alive. Silly woman, he thought. She could use the whole bed now.  
  
Still, he smiled. It was the rare smile he had, without ego or arrogance. It was just a pure smile. He brushed a hair out of Bulma's face and kissed her gently.  
  
"I'll see you soon, Bulma."  
  
And he disappeared.  
  
* * * * * *  
  
Trunks looked across the table at the young beauty that sat there. She seemed to be doing much better after last night.  
  
He'd stayed next to her, telling her stories about the Z-team until she fell asleep. He'd pulled away from her, careful not to wake her. Then he'd kissed her, gently.  
  
"I'll see you in the morning, Jackie."  
  
And he'd left to his own room.  
  
Yes, she seemed to be doing much better. When she'd sat down for breakfast, she'd even smiled at him. She hadn't been smiling too much lately, so it was almost a blessing for him.  
  
Bulma watched them from the hallway for a few seconds. First, Trunks would look up at Jackie, then when she looked up; he'd focus his eyes on his breakfast. This kept going on; only, sometimes Jackie would look up first. It was almost cute!  
  
Yes, Bulma thought, I'm doing the right thing.  
  
She walked up to them and sat at the head of the table.  
  
Finally, when Bulma said nothing, the two of them looked up at the older woman.  
  
Bulma grinned. "I've been watching you two."  
  
Jackie looked confused, but Trunks looked downright petrified. He figured, from the way she said it, that this wouldn't be good.  
  
His mother turned to him. "Trunks, do you remember what we talked about the first day that Jackie was here? While she was in the bath?"  
  
Jackie turned beet red and picked at her food. Trunks gulped and nodded.  
  
"I told you not to make a move on her." Jackie looked up. This was news to her. "I didn't want you to be a burden on her while she is still grieving."  
  
Trunks was at a loss for words. He hadn't tried to make a move on her. But he couldn't deny that he and Jackie had become very close. It had been a little of him and a little of her. But he didn't' want to get her into trouble...  
  
"Mom, I-"  
  
Bulma held up a hand to silence him. "No Trunks," she said sternly. He dropped his head and looked at the floor. "What's been going on between you two is totally, one hundred percent..." she smiled. "Okay."  
  
Both teens looked at her in surprise.  
  
"Mom," said Trunks when he regained his voice, "what made you change your mind?"  
  
"Well, Trunks," she smiled, "like I said, I've been watching you two. You're not a burden on her at all. You seem to be doing everything you can to help her and make her feel welcome. Besides, you're a smart boy. You know what you're doing."  
  
Trunks couldn't believe it. His mom was actually trusting him! And the other thing that got him was that Bulma seemed to know more than he did. Sure, he really liked Jackie, but did he LOVE her? He conjured a picture of her in his head. She was beautiful, nice, liked to laugh...And he felt like he wanted to protect her. After Gohan, she had become his best friend.  
  
He opened his eyes. Yes, he thought. I do.  
  
Trunks glanced over at Jackie. She looked really sad, like she was about to cry again.  
  
Surprised, Trunks softly said, "Jackie?"  
  
She looked up at Trunks and locked eyes with him. Her eyes then brimmed with tears and she stood. "Excuse me," she whispered and ran out of the room.  
  
The two Briefs just sat there for a few minutes. Finally, Bulma broke the silence.  
  
"Well, what are you waiting for? She's your girlfriend, go comfort her!"  
  
"Mom!" Trunks said, upset now. "We'd never even talked about being a couple! You just assumed it!"  
  
"It was kind of obvious," countered Bulma, picking up Jackie's breakfast plates. "And either way, you should still go and comfort her." With that, she went to the kitchen.  
  
Trunks shook his head. "Mom," he scolded. "You never want to take any responsibility."  
  
Still, he went to go find Jackie.  
  
* * * * * *  
  
Jackie sat on the couch in the Briefs' den, clutching the videotape that her father had filmed. It was truly the last possession she had from her family. The pajamas that Trunks had found her in had to be thrown away because they had been so horribly torn.  
  
But it wasn't truly the clothes that were making the tears form in her eyes. It was the conversation that had just taken place  
  
"Why?" she asked herself in a whisper, "Why does it hurt so much?"  
  
Trunks chose that moment to find her. "Oh, there you are," he said. He shut the door behind him. "I was to think that you might've..."  
  
"What?" she asked, rubbing away the dampness from her eyes. "Run away? Trunks, where would I go?"  
  
"Yeah," he sat next to her on the couch. "That's why I wasn't thinking about it seriously. You're too smart for that." He put his arm across her shoulders. "By the way, what just happened? I mean, I know my mother can be a bit forward-"  
  
"No," she interrupted. She laid her head into his shoulder, still holding the video to her heart. "It's not that. Well, not wholly that."  
  
Trunks looked down at her. "So, what is it?"  
  
Jackie sighed. "I...I always told my dad that he would be the first to know if...if I got a boyfriend...or went on a date."  
  
"Oh," he said knowingly.  
  
"And now," her voice rose in pitch as she tried yet again to force back tears. "And now he'll never..." She broke down into tears and pulled closer to Trunks. He thought that if she'd been younger or smaller, she might've crawled right into his lap.  
  
"Shh," he tried to calm her and ran his fingers through her hair.  
  
"No, don't you hush me, you know I'm right! And now he'll never see it."  
  
"You're wrong."  
  
Jackie pulled away from him. "What?"  
  
"You're wrong, Jackie," he repeated.  
  
"How can you say that?"  
  
"He will see it Jackie. He'll see your first boyfriend and your first date and everything you do after that. He's watching you from the other world. And even though he won't be able to give the boy the required fatherly run- through, or walk you down the aisle at your wedding, he'll see you and guide you in spirit. Don't you dare count him, or your mother, out of your life yet. My father's been gone for nearly all of my life, but he still guides me."  
  
For a few minutes, all Jackie could do was look at him as what he said sank in. Finally, she smiled and her eyes softened. "You keep talking like you don't know that you'll be all of those firsts."  
  
"Well, after you ran out of the dining room in tears, I wasn't too sure what to think."  
  
She smiled and brushed a hair out of her eyes. "Trunks Briefs," she said, "I would be happy to go on a date with you." An evil glint entered her eye. "And I'm sure Daddy would be happy to prepare a hundred question run- through for you."  
  
Trunks laughed and pulled her close to him. "It's a date," he purred.  
  
* * * * * * * * *  
  
A/N: That was a lot nicer than the last chapter, ne? And Vegeta comes to visit them, isn't that nice?  
  
Next Chapter: Trunks and Jackie go on a date! Where will he take her? Where IS there to go on a date while the Androids are around? And most importantly, what will they WEAR?? J/K ~__* Find out in the next chapter of The Song of an Angel! 


	7. The Date

The Song of an Angel  
  
By ssj Kinara  
  
Disclaimer: I do NOT own DBZ. All I own is Jackie and her family. Are you tired of hearing this from me yet or not? Oh well, I still need to write it.  
  
A/N: Gomen nasai!!! I don't mean to always take so long to update, but I wanted to be sure that this chapter was really good! I think it is... Anyway, I have it up thanks to a little * cough* understatement *cough * encouragement by nightmarelover. Thanks again to those of you who review!  
  
Recap: Trunks and Jackie are finally going out on a date!! Where will they go? What will they wear? Read to find out!!  
  
* * * * * * * * * *  
  
Chapter seven: The Date  
  
"Oh, Jackie," Bulma crooned again, "you're going to look just lovely!"  
  
Jackie was sitting on the chair before Bulma's vanity. Once the older woman had found out that she and Trunks were going on a date she couldn't resist offering to help Jackie prepare for the outing. At that moment Bulma was digging in her dresser looking for "the perfect dress."  
  
"I haven't worn it since before Trunks was born. Obviously, I've gained a few pounds since then, but it should fit you."  
  
While this was going on, Jackie was looking through the makeup Bulma had pulled out. One by one she removed the lids and caps and admired the colors, shimmers and shines. She'd never been much for makeup, at least not on an everyday basis. Her clear skin and lovely features never really called for a need of it, but she felt that she wouldn't mind... not today.  
  
"Here it is!" Bulma called and held up a dress. It was flattering shades of green. The shoulder straps seemed to be sewn on separately, making the body resemble a tube top extending to a knee-length skirt.  
  
"It's beautiful," breathed Jackie.  
  
"Well, go and try it on," Bulma said, handing it to her. "It won't do you any good otherwise."  
  
Jackie smiled thankfully and went into the restroom.  
  
Bulma then noticed how Jackie'd removed most of the caps to her makeup. She shook her head in false exasperation. Her small smile revealed her thoughts as she began to replace the lids.  
  
I wonder, she thought, if this is how it is to have a daughter.  
  
She didn't care that Trunks was born male. No, she loved him with all that she had! But sometimes she did wonder what it would be like to have had another child, a girl, with Vegeta. Would she have been like Bulma: feminine and concerned with her appearance, or more like Vegeta: muscular and arrogant, or like Trunks: a perfect blend of the two: beautiful and polite, but not unable to care for herself?  
  
But Vegeta was gone. She would never find out what it would be like to have a little girl, all because of those stupid Androids...  
  
"...Bulma?"  
  
She quickly wiped the tears from her eyes and looked up at Jackie.  
  
The dress fit her almost perfectly. It clung where it should have and hung to her knees. The color didn't match her eyes, but set the ocean colors off in a way that neither of them could've expected.  
  
"Oh, Jackie," said Bulma for the umpteenth time that day, "you are just... beautiful."  
  
Jackie blushed. "Thank you," she said softly.  
  
"Oh, come now! You don't have to be so polite around me. Just sit and let me help you with that hair and face of yours. Not like you need it," she winked, "but you did ask!"  
  
Still pink, she sat on the stool and let Bulma work.  
  
* * * * * * * *  
  
Meanwhile, in Trunks' room clothes were flying about and making a mess bigger than the one that was already there.  
  
"I can't believe it!" he groaned, pulling clothes from the back of a drawer. "They're all jeans, t-shirts, training clothes, or dirty and ripped!" He fell back onto his bed in exasperation. "I don't have anything to wear... I'm not asking for a tux or anything!" he yelled at the ceiling. "Just something nice to wear on a first date!"  
  
He covered his face with his hands and muttered. "I'm sure Mom's already found something great out of her closet for Jackie. She keeps telling me about hr dates with Dad..."  
  
Suddenly, his eyes widened and he sat up. "Dad! That's it!" He leaped up off his bed and raced down the hall. "It's so obvious!" he thought, running upstairs. "Why didn't I think of it before?"  
  
He stopped in front of a door and opened it, quietly reaching his other hand into the dark room. He pulled on a chain and a single light bulb went on. He was in the attic, surrounded by boxes and antiques and other family heirlooms. He picked his way around the boxes that were layered with dust until he came to one labeled: "Vegeta's Things." This one wasn't dusty; he and Bulma actually looked in this one regularly.  
  
Carefully, he opened it and peered inside. He could see his father's Saiyan armor and the pink Bad Man shirt that his mom had told him about so many times.  
  
"But pink is no color for a guy to wear on a date!" he thought, and pushed it aside. He sifted through some photos and bits of Saiyan technology until he came to some more clothing.  
  
"Please let there be something nice..."  
  
He was amazed when the first thing he pulled out was a crisp white, button- up, collared shirt.  
  
"Man, I never would have imagined Dad wearing something like this," he said to himself.  
  
"But, I'm sure Mom probably just bought it for one of their dates," he countered, debating in his own mind.  
  
"Then," he continued, "wouldn't Dad have thrown it away at first chance?"  
  
"Well, he was a prince," he figured. "And even if his entire race was gone, besides me and Gohan he had grown up a prince and would've still acted like one..."  
  
While he was saying this, he was removing his own shirt and putting on his father's.  
  
"...And dressed like one."  
  
He looked down at himself. It fit perfectly, and was surprisingly comfortable.  
  
Smiling, he started to go through the box again.  
  
"I wonder if he kept the pants to this..."  
  
* * * * * * * *  
  
Half an hour later Trunks was pacing in the den. He'd found a pair of navy blue pants to go with the shirt a long time ago. Since then he'd been pacing, trying to read, and listening for any noise from Bulma's room. Besides a few giggles, he had no clue what was going on or how long it would take. Sure, he wanted Jackie to look nice, but she was beautiful anyway! So what was taking so long?  
  
Just as he was pacing past the hallway (again) he heard a door opening. He looked up and froze. Was he seeing an angel, descending from Heaven? No, in the old stained-glass windows they always wore white. This beautiful creature was wearing pale green. And angels never walked with a crutch.  
  
Jackie.  
  
Her hair was pulled back into a loose bun behind her head, with thin tassels of hair hanging in front of her ears. The dress seemed to make her eyes brighter than before. She wasn't wearing much makeup, but what little she was wearing also seemed to bring out her eyes.  
  
She was standing in front of him.  
  
"You're beautiful," he breathed.  
  
Her cheeks turned pink under the light dusting of makeup. "So are you," she said, her soft eyes looking into his.  
  
For a moment neither of them knew what to say and just looked at each other.  
  
"So," said Trunks, "shall we go?" He offered Jackie his arm.  
  
She smiled broadly. "Yes, lets," and looped her arm in his.  
  
They had only taken a few steps (Jackie hardly using her crutch anymore) when a voice rang behind them.  
  
"Trunks," said Bulma.  
  
The pair turned to see Bulma at the foot of the stairs, looking at Trunks strangely.  
  
"Yeah, Mom? What is it?"  
  
She hesitated a moment. "Are... weren't those clothes your father's?"  
  
His insides froze. Would he be in trouble? He hadn't even thought that Bulma would've been mad that he's taken them.  
  
"Yes," he said cautiously.  
  
A smile tugged on her lips. "They look good on you."  
  
He let out his breath. "Thanks Mom."  
  
She smiled and Trunks led Jackie out the front door. He looped he crutch around his arm and picked up Jackie as he had for their last outing, and took off into the sky.  
  
As soon as the pair was gone, Bulma wiped her eyes, still smiling, but sadly.  
  
"Yes, Trunks, you look good in those clothes, just like Vegeta."  
  
She looked towards the pink and yellow twilight-tinted sky. "You were right, dear," she said towards the Heavens. "I think this date'll do us all good."  
  
* * * * * * * *  
  
Trunks lightly touched down outside of an open parking lot. At the end of the pavement was a little restaurant with the windowless back wall whitewashed neatly. Near the center, positioned to face the wall, was a small booth.  
  
"A drive-in movie theatre," Trunks told Jackie. "They were a lot more popular in the fifties, though. But, considering the times... we make due with what we have."  
  
"I love it!" Jackie exclaimed. "It's better than the little building we had. Really, the only movie they ever played was Frankenstein, and there's only so many times you can watch that!"  
  
Trunks laughed. "Well, if they do play that, we'll throw popcorn into the booth until they change it. Deal?"  
  
"Deal!"  
  
"Great! But first, let's get something to eat!" he said over his grumbling stomach.  
  
Jackie laughed again, still giddy from the flight and nerves. Smiling, he put his arm around her waist and began to lead her towards the little restaurant.  
  
* * * * * * * *  
  
"You've never had a boyfriend?!" said Trunks disbelievingly.  
  
Jackie, sitting across from him in their booth seat, hid a smile by choosing that moment to take a sip from her milkshake, but nodded 'yes'.  
  
"I don't believe you!" he said, a teasing glint in his eyes. "You're too pretty to never have had a boyfriend before."  
  
"The right guy wasn't there," she said a-matter-of-factly. "And what about you? You're too handsome for me to believe that no girl's never accepted a date from you."  
  
Trunks looked a bit solemn as he spoke. "This was one of the first places that the Androids attacked, remember? After that, there really weren't too many people my age... or any age, really."  
  
"Oh." Trunks' solemn mood was catching.  
  
After a moment Trunks noticed her silence and decided to change the subject. "Hey, what's past is past," he said. "That can't be changed. But what's right now is that movie, and we're going to miss it if we don't go now!"  
  
He stood and offered her his arm. She smiled gratefully, grabbed her crutch and looped her arm in his.  
  
There were only a few other groups in the parking lot waiting to see the movie. Two older couples were in cars; the others were leaning against curbs. A few people waved at Trunks as they sat next to a curb.  
  
The movie turned out to be A Walk to Remember. Trunks quickly whispered to Jackie that he hadn't seen it for a few years, but it was pretty good.  
  
She nodded. "I've never seen it, but Mom said it was good."  
  
They watched the movie quietly, reacting to it in just the right ways and now and then just thinking about what a difference in the world had happened in only a decade and a half.  
  
By the date scene, Jackie had snuggled into Trunks' side and his arm was around her. At that moment Trunks felt as if she was his best friend in the world, like he could tell her anything and she would understand. He felt like he never wanted to leave her side and always wanted to make her happy.  
  
Up on the whitewashed screen, Jamie had pulled him onto the dance floor and was showing him how to dance. Trunks was struck with an idea.  
  
"Would you like to dance?" he whispered into her ear.  
  
She smiled at him, but sadly. "I'd love to, but you know I can't use my foot."  
  
"So don't use it," he told her softly, and lifted her off the ground... literally. He held her close to him and flew in slow circles, almost as if they truly were dancing. To Jackie, it was even better.  
  
"Ooh!" she squealed, throwing her arms around his neck.  
  
"It's okay," he told her, soothingly. He took her right hand in his left and held onto her waist. "I won't let you fall."  
  
"I know you won't." She smiled at him and began to get into the dance. For what seemed to be hours they floated in elegant circles, forgetting the world, forgetting the movie, forgetting the danger. There was only them, and nothing else in the world mattered.  
  
Almost unconsciously, they stopped, nearly nose-to-nose, looking into each other's eyes. Somehow they were moving closer to each other, closer, closer...  
  
And the dream ended with a loud honking of a car horn. Below them the movie was over and everyone was leaving.  
  
"Oh, is it that late already?" said Jackie, rather disappointed. "We'd better get home before your mother has a fit."  
  
"Yeah, and I'm sure your dad would want you home before midnight," added Trunks.  
  
Jackie made an inaudible comment, but Trunks couldn't mistake that sad look in her eye. He made a decision.  
  
"Jackie, I want to show you something before we go home."  
  
"B-but your mom-"  
  
"It's not so far out of the way," he said. Jackie nodded and he flew to the southeast.  
  
He touched down lightly in front of what looked like a small shrine. A large, square stone stood in the middle of it. But what caught Jackie's attention were the papers. Papers and photos were tacked up on the walls and taped to the stone. There was no pattern to them but they seemed to have some certain significance.  
  
"Trunks... what is this?" she asked.  
  
"This," he said walking up to the stone, "is our memorial to all those that we've lost to the Androids."  
  
A shiver ran up Jackie's back.  
  
"Here, come see this." Trunks began to gently pull away the layers of paper. There, carved into the stone were these words:  
  
Vegeta, Prince Of The Saiyans The first To Die, The Last To Be Forgotten  
  
"Oh, Trunks," gasped Jackie. She folded her hands and whispered a quick prayer.  
  
"So..." started Jackie after a moment, "these are all the names of the people who've died at the hands of those beasts?"  
  
"The ones who their friends and families could remember, yes."  
  
Jackie nodded slightly.  
  
After looking at her for a moment, Trunks sighed and pulled out a permanent marker from his pocket. "Here," he said. "You can add your parent's names if you want."  
  
She gazed at the marker, her eyes welling up again, but she smiled and wiped her eyes, accepting it. She wrote:  
  
John And Elizabeth Shiro The Best Parents I Could've Had  
  
She leaned back onto her knees and folded her hands in prayer.  
  
After a minute, she stood up again gingerly.  
  
There were tears streaming down her cheeks as she looked at Trunks.  
  
"Jackie..." he began sympathetically.  
  
Before he could say more, she flung her arms around him and cried into his shoulder. "Thank you," she said through her tears. "I couldn't have asked for someone better to be rescued by. You're my best friend. I love you."  
  
* * * * * * * * * *  
  
A/N: Awwww! Okay, it's a good chapter if the author keeps getting shivers as she writes it! So what do you all think? Well, tell me! I bothered to write this for all of you readers, so all I ask in return is a little review! There's only three more chapters coming up, folks! The end is drawing near!  
  
Next chapter: Time passes and things are going absolutely wonderfully for the Briefs and Jackie. But who's this on the phone? Next time, Jackie has to make a huge decision that'll affect everyone! Don't give up on me, it will be written! 


	8. Decisions

The Song of an Angel  
  
By ssj Kinara  
  
Disclaimer: I still don't own DBZ.just Jackie and her family.  
  
A/N: Sorry again for taking so long! But I always know it's about time when nightmarelover starts to ask me about it. Loads of thanks to her! Oh, and thanks to those of you who always review for me!  
  
Recap: Trunks and Jackie are a definite couple now. But what's going on that's rocking the whole Briefs household out of place? Read to find out!!!  
  
* * * * * * * * *  
  
Chapter eight: Decisions  
  
It was almost hard to believe that Jackie had been living with the Briefs for three days. But time passed quickly and three days easily turned into three weeks. They became like family in that time.  
  
Jackie was getting better at using her crutches, and if Bulma hadn't have made her, she wouldn't have even used them. They were always having fights about "those stupid things" as Jackie put it. She said they just got in the way. Bulma said she wasn't healed yet. Bulma always won, but Jackie would stick out her tongue when Bulma wasn't looking.  
  
Bulma was still waiting for the doctor to call back for Jackie's appointment. "'Not an emergency' he says," she'd mutter. "Pheh!"  
  
Trunks was just happy that he and Jackie were still together. Every morning he woke up hoping that she hadn't been a dream. When he'd see her at the breakfast table, he's decide to live this day like it would be the last day they'd be together.  
  
Those days were all wonderful.  
  
Until the Androids decided that they'd let the peace go on for too long.  
  
Jackie and Trunks were sitting next to each other reading from the same book. Bulma walked into the den, back from grocery shopping and looking rather upset.  
  
"What's wrong, Bulma?" asked Jackie as the older woman plopped into a chair.  
  
"I just saw the news in town," she said, resting her head on her hand as if she had a migraine. "The Androids attacked again," she said gravely.  
  
Silence echoed in the room. Jackie pulled her knees up to her chest in childish protection.  
  
"It's like I always say," Bulma murmured through clenched teeth. "'The longer the quiet, the louder the roar.'" She slammed her fist into the arm of the chair. "Why can't they just leave us alone?!" she screamed.  
  
"Hey, Mom, calm down," said Trunks rising to his mother's side.  
  
After a minute Bulma was reasonably calm again. "How bad was it?" Asked Jackie.  
  
"Pretty bad," she replied. "It's been a while since they'd caused some real damage, so they really let loose.  
  
"Oh, I'm sorry Jackie!" exclaimed Bulma suddenly. "I forgot, I mean."  
  
"It's all right," replied Jackie. "Don't. You told me the truth. That's what I wanted."  
  
For a while no one spoke.  
  
"Well, I don't know about you guys," said Trunks, "but I think that we should go see what we can do. I mean, if nothing else, we can find some junk parts we can use."  
  
Bulma nodded. "I'll get the car ready. You and Jackie get the crates."  
  
"Right." Bulma left the room.  
  
As Trunks helped Jackie up, she asked him why they wanted junk parts.  
  
"Oh." He handed her the crutch. "It's so we can use them to rebuild. Good plastic, metals, alloys, petrol, none of that's easy to find anymore. If Mom or I can ever find anything useable, we collect them in crates to take home and cannibalize."  
  
In the lab, he stacked a few of the boxes and gave them to Jackie under her arm. He took the rest. In a matter of minutes they were ready to head out to the destroyed city.  
  
There they spent the next few hours sorting through the rubble. They didn't find any survivors - they hadn't expected to. Amazingly enough, though, they were able to find some long steel bars and a few plastic containers full of gasoline that were buried underground. Those alone were enough to make the trip a success.  
  
The threesome came back home in fairly good spirits. In an attempt to cheer them up, Trunks had been telling really bad jokes. They walked in, still laughing at an extremely stupid rhyme about Santa Clause and a slumber party, so it took a moment for Bulma to realize the phone was ringing.  
  
"I've got it," she called and ran into the den to pick it up.  
  
Trunks wondered who it could be. Hardly anyone ever called. It was usually too expensive, or there was just no one to talk to. He shook off the subject and decided that Bulma would probably tell him about it, anyhow.  
  
"Let's take these crates down to Mom's lab and then I'll play you in a game of cards."  
  
"Okay," Jackie agreed. "I'm getting better at Hearts now. I just might beat you."  
  
"Oh, really?" laughed Trunks. "We'll just see."  
  
But the pair didn't even make it to the stairwell.  
  
"Jackie?" Bulma poked her head in on them.  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"The phone's for you."  
  
"What, me?!"  
  
Bulma nodded. Jackie took the phone from Bulma and limped into the den.  
  
Trunks was worried. He had never seen such a look on his mother's face: shocked and vacant and almost scared all at once.  
  
"Mom?"  
  
Bulma looked at her son and motioned for him to come with her to the den. He followed her in.  
  
"-what?!" he heard Jackie cry as he entered the room. She was sitting on the couch, looking as if she was going to drop the phone, her face somewhere between extreme happiness and stricken fear.  
  
"Jackie, what is it?" Trunks rushed to her side, worried for her.  
  
She looked in his eyes, her own starting to well up with tears.  
  
"It's.They're."  
  
"It's okay, Jackie, just say it," encouraged Bulma from the doorway.  
  
Jackie took a breath.  
  
"It's my grandparents. They say they can take me to live with them."  
  
* * * * * * * *  
  
Jackie had no family left. They'd all been killed in the Android attack three weeks ago.  
  
Or that's what Trunks thought. Yet there was Jackie, sitting on the couch, just like when she'd told them about the videotape of his father, telling him that her grandparents had just called. Somehow they'd survived the attack and had been searching for any other survivors since. Then, yesterday they'd received a phone call long-distance. Jackie was living in Capsule Corp with the Briefs. They'd called as soon as they'd gathered the courage to believe it.  
  
".and then they asked me if I would like to live with them."  
  
As Jackie spoke, the rage and even fear that had been bubbling up inside of Trunks boiled over. He leapt out of his chair, nearly knocking it over.  
  
"How can you trust that?" he yelled. "How can you be so sure that's really them? You said your whole family was killed!"  
  
"Trunks!" scolded Bulma.  
  
Jackie had a solemn look on her face. "I.I kind of remember that they might've been going on a short trip that morning. Besides," her mouth twitched into a tinny smile, "Grandpa's the only one who ever called me by that nickname, and that man said it: 'Torinoaka-chan'." *  
  
"Baby Bird?" inquired Bulma.  
  
Jackie nodded, smiling sadly.  
  
Trunks wasn't convinced. "So where are they staying? Their house got blown up, remember?"  
  
Bulma glared daggers at her son.  
  
"They had a house farther north," said Jackie.  
  
"How far north?"  
  
She let her hair shadow her face. "Too far to come and visit here."  
  
That broke him. "It's not fair! Why would you want to leave us? Leave me?!" He didn't wait for an answer. He raced up the stairs to the safety and comfort of his room. She couldn't see him cry there.  
  
After a few minutes there was a knock on the door.  
  
"Go away!" He knew he was being childish, but he felt like his adulthood had been completely swept away.  
  
Though his face was buried in his pillow, he could hear the door open and the unmistakable sound of Jackie's footsteps crossing the room. He felt her sit beside him on his bed and place her hand on his back.  
  
"Trunks?"  
  
He didn't look at her.  
  
"Trunks, it is only an offer. I get to decide who I want to stay with."  
  
He turned his head, partly because the air between his face and pillow had begun to taste old, but mostly because he wanted to get a good look at Jackie. She looked as if she had been crying, too.  
  
"So who're you going to stay with?"  
  
She shook her head. "I don't know yet. I really want to stay here, but they're my family, Trunks, and I want to stay with them, too."  
  
Trunks was silent, but nodded almost invisibly.  
  
No one made a sound for a while. Eventually, Jackie stood up to leave.  
  
"Wait." Trunks put a hand on her side to keep her from leaving. He paused for a moment, not sure what he wanted to say. "Um." He sighed. "Whoever you chose, be sure they're who you want to be with."  
  
She smiled. "I will," she assured him, brushing his hair out of his eyes. She kissed him gently on his forehead. "I love you."  
  
He smiled weakly as she left the room and decided to do something he'd never thought to do before: pray.  
  
* * * * * * * * * *  
  
Everything was dark. Trunks couldn't see but somehow he knew what was happening. He was in a wormhole of some kind. He could feel the movement coming from the walls and small particles of something brushing past him.  
  
Suddenly there was a bright flash of light in front of him, and a figure stepped towards him with her hands extended towards him.  
  
Jackie.  
  
He reached for her and held her close in his arms. They didn't need words. The sound of each other's heartbeats was enough.  
  
Then a hand reached out from the darkness behind Jackie and took her hand, beginning to lead her away.  
  
"No!" pleaded Trunks, reaching for Jackie's hand. Tears were filling his eyes, mirroring Jackie's.  
  
Everything was moving slowly, but somehow the hand pulled Jackie too far out of his reach. She collapsed into nothingness.  
  
"Noooo!" he yelled.  
  
"No!" He sat up in bed, the sheets knotted around him, dripping in cold sweat.  
  
It had been a dream. It was over. But the screaming hadn't stopped. Orienting himself, he realized it was coming from down the hall.  
  
Jackie's room.  
  
"Jackie." Trunks untangled himself from the sheets and began to scramble down the hall. "Jackie!"  
  
Bulma was already there. Jackie was on the floor, screaming in pain, holding her right leg. Bulma kneeled over her, trying to calm her down and get a good look at her ankle at the same time.  
  
"Mom! Jackie, what happened?" he cried, clueless to what had happened.  
  
Bulma whipped around. Trunks! Call Dr. Strouss!" she instructed him. "If this isn't an emergency, I don't know what is."  
  
Confused but obedient, he turned to run downstairs, but not before he got a good look at Jackie's face. She was flushed and panicked, still gripping her ankle and tears were filling her eyes.  
  
Why? He asked himself while dialing the phone number. Why does everything seem to happen to this poor girl?  
  
"Hello, Dr Strouss speaking," said an irritatingly calm voice.  
  
"Dr. Strouss! It's Trunks Briefs! Get the ambulance over here quick! Jackie's.I don't know, but she's hurt badly! Hurry!"  
  
"Whoa, calm down, Trunks," he said but with a sympathetic tone in his voice. He knew, along with most of the tight-knit community, of Trunks and Jackie's relationship. "I'll get over there right away. Just hold on for about fifteen minutes."  
  
"Fifteen minutes?!" Trunks cursed into the phone. "You get over here now or answer to me!" He slammed the phone on the receiver.  
  
Bulma came down the stairs. "Fifteen minutes is too long," she told him. "Her ankle won't stop swelling. Quick, get an ice pack!" She turned and rushed back up the staircase as Trunks grabbed the ice pack from the freezer.  
  
He rushed back upstairs in time for Bulma to instruct him to put Jackie on the bed. Jackie's face was wet with tears and twisted in pain, He gently lifted her and placed her there.  
  
Immediately, Bulma was shoving him out of the room. "Wait outside for the ambulance. I can't do any good with you in here."  
  
"Wait!" cried Trunks.  
  
"I'm sorry," Bulma whispered as she shut the door on him.  
  
"Jackie." Tears were flowing freely down his cheeks. What was happening? Was it really that bad?  
  
He couldn't support his own weight anymore. He leaned his head against the wall and slid to his knees. Frustrated but weak, he hit the wall. It hardly left a mark.  
  
Why? He thought again. Why always her?  
  
* * * * * * * *  
  
Dr. Strouss's office was no big building. In all truth, the whole thing was his downstairs floor and basement as an operating room. The doctor dreamed of having a nice office building to work in, but with the constant threat of the Androids he made due with what he had.  
  
It was early in the morning and Trunks was sitting in a stiff chair in the doctor's den, his waiting room.  
  
Just three hours ago, the white van arrived in front of Capsule Corp. Dr. Strouss and his eldest son ran into the house with a stretcher, led by Trunks. Bulma had made a makeshift cast to keep Jackie's leg still, but it wouldn't last long without professional care.  
  
Trunks hadn't gotten any sleep that night. He was too worried about Jackie. Bulma guessed that she'd been having a restless sleep and had fallen out of bed. She didn't know if her already-injured foot had been caught in the sheets and pulled too roughly, or if she'd kicked something in her fall, or something else. She just knew that it was probably broken.  
  
Bulma'd gotten tired of sitting and fretting while Jackie was in pain downstairs. She'd gone for a long walk, leaving Trunks alone.  
  
He wasn't sure how much time had passed since Bulma'd left; he kept running the same worrisome thoughts through his head.  
  
Finally, Dr. Strouss emerged. Trunks jumped up to meet him. "How is she?"  
  
"She's doing just fine," the doctor said in his irritatingly calm voice. "We finished setting her ankle a long time ago. She just desperately needed to sleep. She was under a lot of stress."  
  
"I wonder why," Trunks grumbled inaudibly.  
  
"She asked for you when she woke up," Dr. Strouss continued. "She wants to talk to you."  
  
His heart did a somersault, but he only nodded "yes" outwardly.  
  
Dr. Strouss led Trunks down into the basement hospital. He opened the door for him, indicated Jackie's bed and told him to come on up when he's ready.  
  
Trunks nodded again and Strouss left the room.  
  
There were about six beds squeezed into the basement. Two weren't being used and three others were surrounded by a curtain, but not Jackie's.  
  
She was propped up against a pillow smiling at him from across the room. He returned the smile weakly and made his way to Jackie's bedside. He kneeled next to her and took her hand.  
  
"Hey," he said softly.  
  
"Hey yourself."  
  
Trunks looked her up and down. Besides looking tired, she looked almost like she always did. The only thing was the cast on her foot. Maybe it was just that he was suffering from a lack of sleep, maybe it was the stress that'd built on them all in the last day, but for some reason, he absolutely hated that cast. To him it represented all of that stress. He'd spent the last three hours worrying franticly and couldn't take it anymore.  
  
He looked Jackie in the eyes as his own began to well up. "I don't want you to go," he said through his shaking voice.  
  
"Oh, Trunks." Jackie couldn't help but to tear up at the sight of him crying. She'd always thought he'd seemed so strong, like he couldn't cry, or wouldn't, but she'd made him cry twice in one day.  
  
"Jackie." He brought her hand up to his lips and kissed it. "I don't want you to go," he said again.  
  
She placed her hand on his cheek and wiped away his tear. "Trunks, I-"  
  
"I know I said it didn't matter," Trunks said holding her hands in his, "but I do care. I've gotten so used to seeing you everyday. I want to always wake up and see you. I know you said you hadn't made up your mind yet, but I have to say it, I love you, Jackie. I can't-"  
  
"Trunks, you're not making this any easier on me!" She pulled away from him, fully weeping into her hands.  
  
For a moment Trunks couldn't move, trying to sort out what she'd said and knowing all too well what she meant.  
  
"Jackie.Jackie, no!" He took her face in his hands. "Please, look at me!"  
  
She turned to look in his eyes, still weeping. "Trunks, I've made up my mind. I've really thought about it. Trunks, I'm going to live with my grandparents. I'm too much of a burden for you and Bulma, and don't bother to deny it!" she said, predicting Trunks' interruption. "These are hard times and you don't want to have to care for me when you don't have to. Besides, I'm the only family they've got, too."  
  
Tears were spilling over for both of them. Trunks still was holding her face in his hands gently, and she was running her fingers through his hair.  
  
"I don't think I can say goodbye to you," he wept.  
  
"Then you don't have to," Jackie whispered to him. "We can write letters to each other and even call each other sometimes."  
  
Trunks shook his head. His heart hurt. "It's not the same."  
  
Jackie stopped and took a ragged breath. She knew what she had to say.  
  
"Trunks, if you love me.you have to let me go. Trust me.please. I love you too much to let you go this easily."  
  
No. He didn't want to believe it. But he knew she was right. He did trust her. He had to let her go be with her family. It wasn't his place to stop her.  
  
With fresh tears running down his cheeks, he nodded.  
  
Jackie pulled him close in a sudden hug, her tears reflecting her gratitude and love. "Thank you," she said into his shoulder.  
  
Trunks returned the hug, holding her tightly, never wanting to let her go. But he knew he'd have to all too soon. His heart felt like it was breaking, torn up into little pieces, like he didn't want to take his next breath.  
  
So, he thought, this is what it feels like to die.  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
*Note: My Japanese grammar isn't too great, so it's probably not an accurate translation. Please bear with me or correct me if you're fluent in the language!  
  
A/N: I know, it's sad! But she had to pick someone. I think she felt like her grandparents might need her more. We're drawing to a close! There's only two chapters left! Remember, the more reviews I get, the more I'll be encouraged to get to writing! Thanks again!  
  
Next Chapter: It's a chapter of sad good-byes, readers. How will everyone take it? Stay tuned to find out! 


	9. Goodbye To You

The Song of an Angel  
  
By ssj Kinara  
  
Disclaimer: The same basic disclaimer applies as in chapter 2, only now I must add that Jackie and her grandparents are my own original characters.  
  
A/N: Wow, it's been five months since I last updated! I am so sorry for taking so long, but I hope this chapter is good enough to make up for it. Thanks for all of your patience!  
  
Recap: Jackie has just revealed to Trunks that she has decided to live with her grandparents. How will he take it all?  
  
* * * * * * * * * *  
  
Chapter nine: Goodbye to you  
  
It was a solemn day in the Briefs household. It was unusually quiet in Capsule Corp and the atmosphere was tense. Bulma had helped Jackie pack a few outfits she swore that she never wore anymore and she was sure would fit Jackie, and her grandparents were on their way.  
  
In only half an hour Jackie would be leaving.  
  
Trunks had been trying to avoid the subject of Jackie leaving for the past two days, to the point of being cold, ignoring her. Today was just too much for him, as it was all becoming a too-real reality. He'd been hiding in the kitchen with a book since breakfast, but he wasn't reading it. His mind was too full to concentrate on a book today.  
  
For some reason, Jackie and Bulma had been in the lab for the past few hours. Trunks figured that they were getting in a few last "girl talks" before they had to say goodbye.  
  
For Bulma, these past weeks with Jackie had been like having a daughter or sister. Maybe she was reminded of the times when ChiChi used to come over to visit. Trunks knew she missed those times. He did, too. Only.  
  
A certain thought had entered his head since breakfast, and he wasn't sure that he liked it.  
  
He'd been going over the past few weeks he had with Jackie: his finding her, her lullaby, her first words to them, the home video, their date, that fateful phone call, and now this. Something had occurred to him then: if it hadn't been for all the destruction going on around them, he never would've met Jackie. The Androids had forced her out of her home when she was a child and made the reason for him to come to where she was next.  
  
Trunks didn't know anymore if he wanted to thank the Androids or destroy them for it.  
  
He knew he didn't want the Androids to kill anymore and just trying to destroy them wasn't working. Look where it got Gohan. Well, maybe it was time for a new strategy. He would thank them. He was sure that they'd never been thanked before.  
  
Then another part of him got serious. Yeah, thanked for what? Destroying our planet? You're just going to go up to them and say "Oh, thanks for killing all of those people, you brought me and my girlfriend together and now, by the way, she's leaving with her only living relatives-"  
  
Oh, yeah, Jackie's leaving.  
  
He felt his cheek twitch and he clamped his teeth together. "I'm not going to cry, I'm not going to cry." He white knuckled the arms of the chair. "I'm a man, I'm not going to cry, I'm not."  
  
He leaned forward and nested his face in his arms on the table and sobbed.  
  
Trunks wasn't sure how long he stayed there. He cried for a while, then he might've fallen asleep, but he was shocked into reality when he heard a car door slam and footsteps coming from the street.  
  
He blinked a few times, wiped his eyes and tried to sort out what was happening. He froze, then raced to the window. Two elderly people were coming up the walk.  
  
Jackie's grandparents were there. In a few minutes, she'd be gone. Forever.  
  
Slowly, as if he was in a funeral march, he approached the door, preparing himself for the hardest thing he'd ever have to do.  
  
* * * * * * * *  
  
".And then you just press this button and it's done." Bulma was showing Jackie how to work some of her inventions and machines in her lab. She wanted to, partly because Jackie had never seen much technology and because Bulma liked to show off, but also to get in a little more quality time with her.  
  
She studied the younger woman, who was staring wide-eyed at a computer screen. It was almost comical to Bulma; she spent nearly every day around that computer.  
  
"I never knew," said Jackie, "that one machine could do so much!" She looked up. "Besides the Androids, I mean. And I've seen plenty of gadgets that can do only a thing or two, but this."  
  
Bulma chuckled. "When I was your age, I was so immersed in technology that I couldn't imagine how anyone could live without computers or Dinocaps." She shook her head. "It just shows the gaping differences between our generations, besides the wrinkles," she laughed. Jackie smiled. Her nose wrinkled when she did, in her young, attractive way. Bulma looked at her for a bit, then brushed an invisible hair from Jackie's face.  
  
"I'm going to miss you."  
  
Jackie smiled shyly again and looked at the floor. Bulma kept talking.  
  
"You've been staying in my house for weeks, dear. You've become like family. Trunks and I both love you. As far as I'm concerned, you are family. Jackie, I don't care who you're staying with or how far away you are, you are more than welcome to come and stay with us whenever you like."  
  
"Oh, Bulma!" Jackie hugged Bulma. "Thank you. You know how much I love you all. You've been especially nice to me, Bulma. You're like a sister or a moth-"  
  
Jackie caught herself. Bulma could tell from the look in her eye that she was thinking of her own mother.  
  
"Aw, Jackie," Bulma hugged the girl. Tears were starting to brim in her eyes. "It's okay. I don't want you to compare me to your mother. We're very different people. We're very different people and you ought to keep a special place in your heart for her. I think we'll make better friends anyway, hmm? Like sisters?"  
  
Jackie smiled through her tears and nodded. "Yeah," she said. "Sisters."  
  
The two women looked at each other and smiled. Bulma wiped a tear from Jackie's cheek with her thumb and winked.  
  
"So, do you think it's done yet?"  
  
Jackie watched the woman stand and approach her table of machines. "I don't know," she replied. "You're the expert."  
  
"Yeah, but it's been a while since I've made one of these." She pulled something from a rectangular slot in one of her machines and placed it in a small, brown box. She handed it to Jackie, who closed it. "It should work," she said.  
  
Jackie nodded and pulled out a bright green string to tie decoratively on the box.  
  
"Where'd you get that?" asked Bulma.  
  
"Found it." Jackie winked at Bulma. "Don't worry; it wasn't from anything important. Lend a finger?"  
  
Bulma placed her index finger over the crossed ends for Jackie to finish the bow.  
  
"I think it's really sweet that you're doing this for him," stated Bulma as Jackie pulled the strings tight.  
  
"I know," Jackie said softly. "I just feel like it was right for us."  
  
Bulma smiled and Jackie mirrored the gesture.  
  
From behind them, a knock came from the door of the lab.  
  
"Mom?" Trunks called from behind the door.  
  
Bulma glanced at Jackie before answering. She knew what was coming. Call it woman's intuition.  
  
"Yes, Trunks?"  
  
He opened the door enough to fit his head through. He took a deep breath before speaking, and even then he choked on the words.  
  
"It's Jackie's grandparents. They're here to take her.home."  
  
* * * * * * * * *  
  
Jackie took the last step carefully into the main area of the Briefs' house. Funny; she'd been calling this place home for so long. she began to wonder if she would ever see it again.  
  
Trunks came up behind her. "They're in the den."  
  
Jackie nodded, not daring to look at him. He placed a hand on her shoulder, though, and she couldn't help but turn and look up at those crystal blue eyes.  
  
"Trunks-"  
  
They're waiting for you," he said rather coldly. It left a hollow spot in her stomach to hear him like that, but she knew him well enough to notice how his eyebrows knitted together as he tried to hold back. She didn't want to push him, so she took a breath and continued through the door.  
  
Two old people, a man and a woman in their seventies, were sitting on the loveseat, their hands clapped nervously together between them. Jackie knew them well enough to know that the woman's hand was slightly arthritic.  
  
For a long moment, they looked at each other, almost to be sure that the others were real.  
  
Slowly, the woman stood and walked towards Jackie, arms outstretched. "Jackie," she said, "my granddaughter!" She sniffed back tears and wrapped her arms around Jackie's neck.  
  
"Grandma!" Jackie returned the hug. "It's really you!" she cried, tears running familiarly down her face.  
  
"Yes, it's me, baby, it's us," she said.  
  
"We're all here again!" said the man, with the joy and energy of someone thirty years his younger. His wrinkles on his face only added to the evident happiness in his heart. "Grandma, Torinoakachan and me! My crying girls!"  
  
"Yeah, that's where I got it from," Jackie agreed, wiping her eyes. "Grandma. We're always the ones crying."  
  
"You bet, Jackie dear," she was still holding her. "You and I, we could-"  
  
"--Fill the Atlantic Ocean!" Jackie finished, saying it with her, "while Grandpa watches in his raincoat."  
  
"Aw, glad to be included," he said. The smile seemed to be stuck to his face. "C'mere! All of us together!" He gathered them into a big hug.  
  
A flash went off behind them. All three jumped and Jackie's grandmother yelped.  
  
Bulma pulled a camera away from her face. "Sorry," she said bashfully. "It was such a tender moment. I couldn't help but take a picture."  
  
Jackie laughed. "It's all right, Bulma. We're just jumpy. Y'know, with the Androids and their bombing.or whatever."  
  
Regaining her composure, the old woman spoke to Bulma. "So you're the one who's been taking care of my grandchild all this time."  
  
"Well, technically, yes."  
  
"Thank you so much." She took Bulma's hand in gratitude. "I don't know what we would've done if you hadn't saved her. She's all we have now."  
  
"It's really our pleasure. She's a truly lovely girl."  
  
"Oh, where are my manners? My name's Rebecca and this is Don, my husband."  
  
"It's nice to meet you both."  
  
As the adults exchanged pleasantries, Trunks listened behind the closed door.  
  
"So this is it," he thought. "They're in there saying 'Hi, bye, nice knowin' ya' and Jackie's leaving just like that. Some world I live in." He placed one hand over his eyes and his other arm around his middle. "I wish Gohan was here."  
  
He stood there, losing track of the conversation in the other room, lost in dismal memories about Gohan, his mentor and best friend. He always knew what to do in a tight spot. Gohan often told him it was because of his dad and the other Z fighters. Trunks had heard so much about them all that he felt like he knew them, at least enough to miss them.  
  
He felt a hand touch his shoulder. He knew even before he took his hand away from his eyes that it was Jackie. He had been so caught up in his memories that he hadn't sensed her coming.  
  
"Hi," she said feebly.  
  
"Hey." His voice was colder than he'd intended. The disappointment showed on Jackie's face.  
  
"Sorry."  
  
"No you're not," she stated, surprising Trunks. "You don't want me to go, so you've decided to separate yourself from me to spare yourself the pain of yet another loss, like your father and Gohan. You're cutting yourself off from emotion now so you won't fell anything later. You're tired of that cutting, raking pain in tour heart every time someone you love leaves you."  
  
"Jackie. I-"  
  
"It's almost sundown," Jackie said, looking past him and through a window. "That means twilight's coming." She moved past him towards the window. She leaned on her crutch and pulled the shades completely out of the way. Trunks stood next to her and looked out the window. He waited for what she had to say next.  
  
"Look at it," she said. "See the sky? You know how vast it really is, but doesn't it seem like a painting just for us humans? All the pinks and oranges and blues and purples, they all blend together so nicely. The sun does that, you know.  
  
"In a few minutes the sun is going to move out of sight and the moon will come out. It'll get dark, but that velvet black is just the backdrop for the moon's play. The stars all come out and twinkle, but the moon is the one that shines. It shines with the sun's light. But, I don't think either feels contempt for the other. They exist in perfect harmony with each other, neither one trying to take the other's place. One is in the night and the other is in the day. They hardly ever cross each other.  
  
"But, sometimes the moon visits the sun in the daytime. I think it's more of a reunion than a competition. The moon doesn't bother to outshine the sun, and they exist together in a pretty picture, but they go back when the time is right.  
  
"They live far apart most of the time. Still they live in happy harmony together.  
  
"Why can't we do that?"  
  
Jackie finally turned to look at Trunks, the sinking sun casting a radiant glow onto her face and making her tears glitter. Yes, tears had again entered her eyes and it was his fault. His fault that she was crying yet again.  
  
He pulled her close to him and she cradled her head on his shoulder.  
  
"We can, Jackie," he told her. "We can because I am not going to lose you because some land is between us. I'll see you again even if I have to fly there in ten years!"  
  
"Well, until then we can still try sending letters. I don't know how good the post is yet, but we can when we can. And we can all each other."  
  
Trunks smiled and placed a hand on Jackie's cheek. "Right."  
  
A flash went off behind them.  
  
"Sorry," Bulma sniffled again, "but I couldn't help myself."  
  
The pair laughed and took a small step away from each other.  
  
"Jackie," Don, her grandfather stepped out from behind Bulma. "We're ready to go now. Are you all the way packed?"  
  
Trunks watched Jackie's head and smile fall a bit as she nodded.  
  
She walked gingerly up the stairs with her grandpa, helping each other take each step.  
  
Bulma quietly approached Trunks.  
  
"Are you going to be able to do this?" she whispered to him. He nodded.  
  
"But it's all ending too fast," he thought, but he couldn't say, not with Jackie's grandma right there.  
  
Within a minute, they were back down the stairs and putting Jackie's bag in the trunk of their small car.  
  
Trunks and Jackie stood in the doorway arms around each other, trying to figure out how to say good bye.  
  
"I'll miss you doesn't seem to sum it up, does it?" said Trunks.  
  
"Hey, don't forget that you promised to fly and visit me in ten years," Jackie reminded him. "That's if I don't beat you to it.  
  
"Oh." She suddenly reached for her pocket and pulled out the brown box with the green string. "This is for you."  
  
He blinked and stared at it as if he'd never seen a box before.  
  
"You.bought me something?"  
  
"Well, no. I sort of made it, with Bulma's help. Take it."  
  
Slowly, almost gingerly, he took the box out of Jackie's hands. With a quick look at her smiling face, he pulled off the string and removed the lid. What he found in the box wasn't what he'd been expecting.  
  
"A cassette?"  
  
Jackie nodded. "For you to remember me by. It has some of my favorite songs on it, and I even recorded that lullaby on it. Just the way my mother would sing it," she said, leaning close to Trunks' ear as she began to sing.  
  
"I don't know What words I can say. The wind has a way To talk to me. Flowers sleep A silent lullaby. I pray for reply. I'm ready. Quiet day calms me. Oh, serenity, Someone please tell me Oh, mmm, What is it they say? Maybe I will know one day. I don't know What words I can say The wind has a way To talk to me. Flowers sleep A silent lullaby. I pray for reply I'm ready."  
  
By now, Trunks was weeping into Jackie's shoulder. It wasn't just because of the song, though. It was the whole picture, the song and how clear it was now that Jackie was leaving. Her suitcase was in the trunk, and Rebecca was settled into the front seat, waiting.  
  
It was the point of no return, the hand pulling Jackie away from him.  
  
He felt a heavy hand on his shoulder. Wiping his eyes quickly, he turned to see Don, who gave him a weak, sympathetic smile.  
  
"Are you ready to go, Jackie?" asked the old man.  
  
Trunks took a step away from them, and Jackie looked at the floor and nodded.  
  
As Jackie reached for her crutch and her Grandfather led her towards the door, Trunks felt like his insides were being ground out by a mortar and pestle. He couldn't take it. His eyes burned and he turned, racing up the stairs at a superhuman speed.  
  
"Trunks!" His mother called up the stairway. He couldn't hear. He only heard the pounding in his ears as he flung himself onto his bed and wept, wept in a way that would have shamed his father, but he didn't care anymore. Not anymore.  
  
When he began to feel his limbs again, he looked at the cassette still clutched in his hand. Without thinking, he got up and put it in his player. The soft music began to play and he sat on his bed, absorbing the music.  
  
Of all the things I believed in  
  
I just wanna get it over with Tears form behind my eyes But I do not cry Counting the days that pass me by.  
  
At the mention of tears, Trunks remembered his own and wiped them away, only managing to burn his eyes more.  
  
I've been searching deep down in my soul The words I'm hearing are starting to get old Feels like I'm starting all over again The last three years were just pretend And I said  
  
Goodbye to you Goodbye to everything I thought I knew You were the one I loved The one thing that I tried to hold on to.  
  
The grinding in his stomach began to hurt again. He clutched his pillow to himself and listened to the words. It almost sounded like Jackie singing.  
  
I used to get lost in your eyes  
  
It seems like I can't live a day without you Closing my eyes and you chase my thoughts away To a place where I ain't blinded by the light But it's not right  
  
Goodbye to you Goodbye to everything I thought I knew You were the one I loved The one thing that I tried to hold on to.  
  
Trunks felt frozen, even though it was mid-summer. Had Jackie picked this song first on purpose? It sang goodbye-then he remembered: He hadn't said goodbye to Jackie.  
  
Oh  
  
And it hurts to want everything And nothing at the same time I want what's yours and I want what's mine I want you But I'm not giving in this time  
  
Goodbye to you Goodbye to everything I thought I knew You were the one I loved The one thing that I tried to hold on to Goodbye to you Goodbye to everything I thought I knew You were the one I loved The one thing that I tried to hold on to.  
  
Full to the brim, and not caring what anybody thought, he jumped up and ran to his window. He flung it open and reached his head out as far as he could go. HE looked towards he road leading away from Capsule Corp. There, humming away from the building, from him, was a lone car. Even from where he was, with his Saiyan eyes he could see Jackie in the backseat.  
  
"Jackie!" he shouted at the top of his lungs. "This isn't 'goodbye'! This is 'I'll see you soon'! Remember me! Never forget us, or this month, Jackie! That keeps me right next to you wherever you are! I love you, Jackie!! Forever and ever, I'll love you, until the day I die!"  
  
Oh And when the stars fall I will lie awake You're my shooting star.  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
Disclaimer: I do not own the lyrics to that last song. It's Michelle Branch's song called "Goodbye to You".  
  
A/N: Aaaaaaaaaah! I know, I know! I want to cry when I picture it all in my head, and I've been picturing this ending for, wow, almost a year. But don't hate me yet! I still have an epilogue to write. Then you can hate me.  
  
Next (LAST!) Chapter: Unfortunately, time keeps passing and things keep changing. What has happened in the ten years after Jackie left? Well, be patient and find out in the Epilogue of The Song of an Angel!! 


	10. Epilogue: Ten Years

The Song of an Angel  
  
By ssj Kinara  
  
Disclaimer: I do not own anything except Jackie. The song is from Outlaw Star. Everything else is from Dragonball Z. So there.  
  
A/N: Wow.I thought I'd have this up a month ago. Anyway, here it is now, and I'm sorry that I'm lazy. I really am!  
  
Recap: Ten years have passed since Jackie left Trunks to live with her grandparents.  
  
* * * * * * * * * *  
  
Chapter ten / Epilogue: Ten Years  
  
It's amazing sometimes how you can experience a time of happiness where everything goes right. It's almost like taking a vacation from life. But soon that time is gone. Life resumes and you fall back into that dark, uncertain routine of simple living.  
  
That's how Trunks felt. It had been ten years since he had last seen Jackie, when she had left with her grandparents. For at least two years they'd been in close contact, writing letters almost every day, and there would be a phone call once every few months. After a while, though, the letters slowed to once every few weeks, then less. The phone calls stopped. The letters started coming only once a month, then finally, only when something important happened.  
  
It was a nice summer day. It had been three months since Trunks had gotten Jackie's last letter. It had been about seven years since he'd gone back in time and met his father and Goku and the rest of the Z team. It had been ten years, to the day, that Jackie had left him.  
  
Trunks lay in the swinging porch bench that he and his mom had gotten a few years back. There, he could hear the city being built up all around him. He felt happy chills run through his back and arms, knowing that children were being born, and eleven-year-olds were going to junior high without a worry, and mothers did not mind letting their children play outside. It felt good to him, knowing that the population was growing at a rapid rate, and that the cities, too, were growing without threat of destruction. He could hear the machinery running, cars driving, and, with his Saiyan hearing, he could hear the voices of the shop owners calling to their potential customers, children laughing, and even a radio playing.  
  
It was such a happy environment.  
  
Too bad the deep hole in his heart kept lurching with guilt whenever he felt happy.  
  
That part of Trunks wouldn't let himself feel happy. Jackie's last letter had been short and vague. Not for the first time, he wondered how Jackie really felt about him. Did she consider him just a distant friend now? Did she think of him as often as he thought of her? Did she even have a different boyfriend now?  
  
"Shut up," he told himself. "She's as old as you are. Just because you're twenty five and still live with your mother doesn't mean she's not married or."  
  
But that thought made his insides hurt more so he shut his eyes and rolled onto his side, trying to think of something else.  
  
He still often listened to the tape Jackie had left him. Along with the first song, and a few other love songs, she had recorded herself singing her lullaby.  
  
He allowed himself a small smile at the memory of her singing. He remembered that the first time he had heard her voice she had been singing that song. He remembered that right before she had left she had sung that song into his ear. He listened to it on the tape every time he had trouble sleeping, until recently. Lately, it only hindered his sleep; caused thoughts that kept him awake and frustrated.  
  
He changed positions again, angry with himself that he was so caught up in nothing. He had the tune stuck in his head. The slow, sleepy melody made the wrenching of his gut even worse. To add to it, he could hear Jackie's voice humming the tune.  
  
He was about to leap up and run to his room and turn up music -any music- to drown out the haunting melody, but he heard a noise: the soft sound of feet on grass, coming closer from around the Capsule Corp building.  
  
Trunks realized something; the humming wasn't coming from his head.  
  
Faster that a normal human, he sat up, looking for any sign of movement coming from the voice and footsteps, which were coming closer.  
  
The humming changed to singing.  
  
"I don't know what words I can say."  
  
He knew that voice!  
  
"The wind has a way to talk to me."  
  
He knew it, almost like a dream.  
  
"Flowers sleep a silent lullaby."  
  
Everything seemed to be moving so slowly.  
  
"I pray for reply, I'm ready."  
  
A sneaker emerged from behind the building.  
  
"Quiet days calm me, oh serenity."  
  
Jeans.  
  
"Someone please tell me."  
  
Her shirt.  
  
"Oh, mmm, what is it they say?"  
  
Her face.  
  
"Maybe I will know one day."  
  
Jackie! There she was. Ten years after she had left him she was standing ten feet in front of him. Her hair was shorter, but besides that, she still had the same eyes, the same face, and the same smile.  
  
She was smiling.  
  
"Hi, Trunks."  
  
"Jackie," he breathed and stumbled out of the chair. "You're .here."  
  
She giggled. It felt good to hear her laugh.  
  
"Of course I'm here. So are you." She made it sound like no time had passed.  
  
"But.why now?"  
  
She smiled. "It's been ten years, hasn't it?"  
  
He stared at her.  
  
Her smile faded a bit. "Don't you remember our promise?"  
  
Suddenly, he remembered, vividly, what Jackie had said on the same day she had left: "Don't forget that you promised to fly and get me in ten years. That's if I don't beat you to it."  
  
His jaw fell slack a bit. "You.you beat me to it."  
  
She smiled again.  
  
"But your letter."  
  
"What about it?"  
  
He paused. What could he say? That it had been vague and that he had drawn conclusions that she hated him without any real evidence?  
  
"It. was sparse."  
  
Jackie put her fists on her hips. "Well, it's not like you gave me much to go on in your last letter, which, by the way, was six months ago. Just 'Hi, Bulma and I are fine. How're the kids and bye'!"  
  
"You have kids?!"  
  
"No!"  
  
He stared at her. Tears were forming in her eyes.  
  
"Trunks.you have forgotten me, haven't you?" she asked in a small voice. "Oh, you have! And I." Her voice broke off and she turned her back to him, her shoulders shaking.  
  
Trunks could feel his heart breaking. He hadn't forgotten her. He thought of her every spare moment that he had. Then, when she finally was in front of him again, he made her cry. He had so many memories of her crying.  
  
He stepped off the porch and walked up behind her. He placed his hand gingerly on her shoulder. "Jackie?"  
  
She flew around and buried her face in his chest, sobbing and crying. " I've missed you, Trunks! I've missed you like you can't believe."  
  
"No," Trunks said. He put his arms around her and touched his head to hers. " I can imagine," he said. "It's been a long time. I've thought of you every hour. And every time it gets more and more painful. It's because I've missed you.missed you so much."  
  
"Trunks." she murmured. "I thought you hated me, you know, from how little you wrote."  
  
Trunks smiled lightly. "I thought the same thing."  
  
"Yeah, but I had an excuse for not writing much. I went back to school to make up for all the stuff I missed when the Androids were around. What's your excuse, smarty-pants?"  
  
"I.I don't have one."  
  
"I don't care." Jackie held him tightly to her. "I love you, Trunks. In all the years that I've missed you, I kept waiting for the feeling to get raw. Then it never did, and I came here today. Oh, what I felt to see you. I know I love you, Trunks, for real. I don't care if you can't love me back."  
  
Trunks looked down at the girl -no, the woman in his arms. She had said it. She felt exactly the same way he did.  
  
"Jackie," he said, so gently. "If you hadn't just said that, then I would have. I do. I love you. And I don't ever want you to leave me again."  
  
With one hand, he lifted her chin so that he could look into her eyes.  
  
"I love you Jackie. Forever's not over yet."  
  
She smiled. The sun glinted off the tears still in her eyes. It made her look so fragile and so perfect.  
  
"You know," Jackie said, and looked right into his eyes. "You still haven't kissed me yet."  
  
Trunk's stomach lurched.  
  
"No.I haven't yet."  
  
"Why?"  
  
He wasn't sure why, but it felt like giant butterflies had entered his stomach, a rock was stuck in his throat, and clouds were filling his head.  
  
"Well, I guess it's because. the time had never been right."  
  
"Is it right now?"  
  
Trunks thought. The sky was just beginning to tint pink. The wind was blowing only a little bit, and there was Jackie in his arms for the first time in ten years.  
  
"Yeah," he said. "The time is right."  
  
He leaned in close to her. They closed their eyes.  
  
Their lips touched.  
  
It was like music playing, only he couldn't even hear it. He felt it, and it was the ultimate euphoria.  
  
They parted.  
  
"Wow," said Jackie, dazedly.  
  
"I can do better than 'wow,'" said Trunks. He picked her up and spun her in a circle. "That was amazing, Jackie!" He put her down and took her face in both of his hands. Both of them were feeling absolutely giddy. "Now," said Trunks, "there's no way I'm ever letting you leave me again."  
  
"Never ever?" she breathed.  
  
"Never ever."  
  
"Good!" she said and leapt onto his arms. "Because I'm never leaving you again, for as long as I live!"  
  
"Never?"  
  
Jackie grinned, then kissed him. "Never."  
  
"Good."  
  
He picked her up off her feet and spun her again. Both of them were laughing. For Trunks, it was the happiest moment of his life. And, Jackie in his arms, he ran into the house, shouting, "Mom! You'll never guess who showed up at our back door!"  
  
The End.  
  
* * * * * * * * *  
  
A/N: And so it ends. My first multi-chapter story and it was WAY too long in the making! Sorry again for all the delays and a huge THANK YOU to those of you who reviewed! You know who you are!  
  
Final words: Well, I think this will be my last DBZ fic for a while. In fact, I'm going to be writing a Harry Potter story. It's already well on it's way, but to avoid such long gaps between posting chapters, I want to finish writing it out before I start posting it here. Please bear with me. But I do need help! I need a good name for a wizarding school. If you have any ideas, please e-mail me or leave it in a review. Thank you so much to everyone! I appreciate it!! 


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